As Ants to Giants
by LadyExcalibur2010
Summary: Their lives intersected on a single day that changed both of them forever. Now, they're about to meet again. Out of tragedy, there is sometimes a gift.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

_**Author's Note: The idea for this story came to me while I was watching Source Code. This plot really doesn't have anything to do with that plot, but that's where I got the idea. Expect an update every two weeks for now. It won't be too long, probably under 20 chapters. Famous last words, huh?**_

**As Ants to Giants**

_**1999...**_

Edward heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that he had not missed his brother's plane. Ellis was due to arrive in about twenty minutes, but Edward had hit a traffic snarl on his way to the airport and had worried he'd be late. Now, thanks to some less than precisely legal driving, he had some time to kill, so he wandered over to the Starbucks and ordered a coffee. In back of him, he heard a young girl talking on her phone.

"I know, right?" she was saying. Then she laughed. "I know, I know. We're just waiting for my mom's plane to get in." Another pause, during which Edward guessed the other person was speaking. Then the girl's voice went lower. "Yeah, I'm in Starbucks." A giggle and Edward wanted to smile. She reminded him of his little sister Rosalie and he hadn't even turned to see her. "Yeah, there's uh...a...uh huh...oh yeah..." More laughter. "Yep, and extremely hot."

Edward quirked one eyebrow as he waited for his name to be called. He risked one quick glance at the girl and she blushed fiery red and turned away. "_Totally_ hot," she said again.

Used to just such a reaction from teenaged girls, he pretended not to notice. Yes, she was about the same age as Rose, probably about fifteen or sixteen. She was cute now, but in a couple of years he predicted she'd be breaking boys' hearts all up and down the Pacific coast. Right now she was all big brown eyes and unruly brown hair along with gangly limbs and braces.

Finally, his coffee was in his hands and he made his way back to the gate. The girl followed him a few moments later but went to stand by an older man, probably her father. Apparently, her mother was on the same flight as his brother. He caught her eye and gave her a commiserating smile when the board flashed a "delayed" signal.

He went to a seat and passed the time by planning what he and Ellis would do while he was home. They'd both graduated toward the top of their high school class but they had decided that, for once, they should branch out on their own. Identical twins, they hadn't spent more than 48 hours apart in their lives. As close as any brothers could be, they had both agreed that they wanted to try things on their own for a while – just be Edward Cullen and Ellis Cullen, not the Cullen twins.

Ellis had chosen the University of North Florida, while Edward had gone with his father's alma mater, the University of Alaska. But now their freshman year was over and they had the whole summer stretching out ahead of them. Life was good.

There were parties to attend, girls to flirt with and take to bed, motorcycles to ride, and more girls. Ah yes, the girls...

**~~~AATG~~~**

A half hour later and the delayed status hadn't changed. Edward finally felt his patience wearing thin and approached the desk. There had been a lot of activity there in the past thirty minutes, so surely _someone _knew _something_.

"Hi," he said in his most charming voice. The young woman behind the desk looked harried and worried, and for the first time, Edward felt a twinge of concern underneath the annoyance. "Listen, I was wondering if you had any idea when flight 7798 is going to arrive?" He flashed her another panty dropping smile, one he and Ellis had both perfected over the years. It had been successful more often than not and he was not above using it now.

"I'm sorry, sir," the woman replied, shooting a quick glance at the man at her side. He looked important, so Edward turned his attention to him. "Someone will be with you shortly."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Edward asked, growing more and more anxious.

Another glance at the man in the suit. Edward looked at his name tag. "Mr. Roberts? What does that mean? Exactly when is that flight going to arrive?"

"Sir," Mr. Roberts said. "If you'll come with me. We're asking all of the families to join us in a conference room." Edward looked over his shoulder and sure enough, airline reps were approaching each person waiting for someone on Flight 7798.

Concern and anxiety flared to alarm and Edward felt his chest tighten. He watched the girl from the coffee shop start to cry and saw her father put his arms around her and support her as they followed the airline representative.

"What the _fuck_ is going on?" Edward shouted and the woman behind the desk winced.

"Please sir, you have to remain calm," she murmured. "You're upsetting the others."

"I think they're upset because no one around here will tell them what the fuck is going on," Edward snapped. "Listen, my brother's on that plane and I want to know when he's going to get here and I want to know now."

The man in the suit put his hand on Edward's elbow and Edward found himself being led along with the others. He had a vague thought that he should fight it more, but couldn't seem to summon the energy. Edward was the last one in the room and it clicked behind him with a sense of finality.

He noticed then that someone from the airline was standing with each person or group he had seen gathered in the terminal. As if by some unspoken signal, their heads bent and they began talking quietly to the families and friends who had gathered there waiting for the arrival of 7798.

Mr. Roberts leaned in close to Edward too, and from somewhere far away, Edward heard his voice. "We're very sorry, but Flight 7798 crash landed shortly after take-off from Chicago," he was saying.

Edward turned to him, his mouth working but no words coming out. His heart thundered in his chest. "Ellis?" he finally managed to whisper. "My brother?"

Mr. Roberts paused briefly. "There appear to be no survivors."

No survivors.

No survivors.

Edward heard nothing else; it was as if someone had hit the mute button. He looked around him and the brown-eyed girl was sobbing in her father's arms. Their eyes met briefly and there was something in her eyes that made him want to tell her that this was all a bad dream. Everything would be all right.

Everything would be all right.

Everything _had_ to be all right.

Ellis couldn't be dead.

Ellis couldn't be _dead_.

Ellis...


	2. Chapter 2: What is Left Behind

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Author's Note: I know I said two weeks, but this chapter just sort of wrote itself. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I guess we'll see. I can't promise such fast updates forever, but I thought I'd enjoy it while I could. I hope you like...**

**Chapter 2: What is Left Behind**

He could feel the texture of the armrest under his hand. He felt the buckle of the seatbelt pressing into his gut. He turned, looking across the empty seat to the one by the aisle. She was sitting there, as she always was. Her expression looked odd, as if it was a photograph badly photo-shopped onto the body that occupied the seat. Her eyes met his, and though her expression never changed, she managed to convey her terror.

He reached out and took her hand, her fingers locked around his. The plane dropped sharply and her fingers tightened. His gut rebelled and he had to close his eyes. When he opened them, her eyes were closed and her lips were moving. He wanted to pray but the words were all jumbled in his head. One simple request came through. "Please..."

And then God said no.

The plane was no longer dropping; it was _racing_ toward the ground, embracing its destruction. One look at her face and he knew that they both accepted it was hopeless and their hands tightened around each other's, keeping hold until the very last sec-

**~~~AATG~~~**

It was the same dream that ripped him from his sleep. He woke up panting and covered in a cold sweat. Blinking at the dark room, he turned after a moment to stare at the clock. "Fuck," he muttered. He sat up on the edge of the bed and wiped the sweat from his face. It had been a while since he had had the dream. A year to be exact.

It still had the power to destroy him, if only temporarily.

Edward took a deep, calming breath like the counselor had advised all those years ago. He let the cold, sick feeling in his gut pass from him with that breath. He let it go. Then he snorted. As if it was that easy.

Out of habit, he reached out for a cigarette, his hand patting down the surface of the bedside table before he remembered. He'd quit smoking – almost a decade ago. It was funny how the urge hit him every now and then. It always did after the dream. It had been a year since he'd wanted a cigarette too.

Knowing that he would get no more sleep that night, he got to his feet and wandered into the kitchen. He pulled out the carton of orange juice and drank directly from it. It didn't matter; he was the only one who lived here. With a shrug, he finished it off. Automatically, he added orange juice to his grocery list.

He picked up his cell phone, noting that a text had arrived at 1:27 that morning, just an hour ago. He smiled when he opened it. Apparently, Rose hadn't been finding sleep any easier to come by than he had. On impulse, he texted her back.

**You awake?**

While he waited for her reply, he rummaged around in the freezer. Some ice cream would hit the spot right now and luckily he had a bit of Rocky Road left. He was eating out of the carbon when his phone vibrated across the counter.

It wasn't a text, it was a call. Rosalie.

"Hey," he answered. His voice sounded gruff and raspy. He cleared his throat.

"Hey," she answered. "Are you doing okay?" Then she sighed. "Of course you're not. I'm not either, but..." She blew out a breath. "Yeah. You know how it is."

"I do," he assured her. He turned on the light and squinted at the calendar. June 10th, 2009. "It's hard to believe it's been ten years."

"Yeah," she agreed. They both fell silent, unable to say the words they wanted to say, but unwilling to break the connection between them. They were the surviving Cullen children, but they were defined by the one who was missing.

He stood there in his kitchen, a silent phone pressed to his ear and thought about the past ten years. The first year had been the worst, and Edward had been on a campaign of self-destruction that even his parents couldn't stop. Then one day he had stumbled down the stairs of his parents' home, still too drunk to be hung over, and seen Rose crying as she stared out the window.

"What's doing, sis?" he'd asked, more out of habit than concern. He hadn't cared much about anyone except himself for what seemed a lifetime.

She had turned to face him fully then, her expression bleak, her eyes hard. "Sometimes, I wish it had been me," she said softly.

"What?" Surely she couldn't mean –

"Sometimes," she repeated slowly, as if he was stupid. "I wish...it had been me."

"Don't you fucking say that!" Edward felt anger rush through him, the first genuine emotion besides self-pity or grief that he'd felt in a year. "Why would you fucking say that?" He crossed over to her in swift strides, taking her shoulders in his hands and shaking her hard. "Why the fuck would you-"

"Because," she'd whispered. "I lost Ellis, and now I've lost you too. I can't stand it. I'd rather be dead!" With that, she had pulled away and run up the stairs, leaving her big brother to stare after her. "Ellis would hate to see what you are now!" She threw the words over her shoulder and he felt them impale him.

He'd stood there, completely still and silent for a long moment. And then he had crumpled to the floor and wept, the first tears he had allowed himself to cry since that day in the airport. He had puked after it was all over; had cried so hard he puked. At some point, his parents found him. His mother was rocking him in her arms, sitting on the floor with him gathered to her like a baby, when he'd come to his senses.

But that had been the turning point. A few weeks later, Edward was enrolled in college again. He started eating again, regaining some of the twenty pounds he'd lost since Ellis's death. He went out on a date, though it was awkward and uncomfortable. Still, he was making the effort.

It took him only one semester of college to figure out that his old major just wasn't what he wanted anymore. Before the plane crash, he had been determined to be a financial whiz kid. He expected to be a millionaire by his 30th birthday, a billionaire by his 40th. Ellis had teased him about being the master of all he surveyed. Ellis had always been the less reserved and driven of the two, and he had been the one who wanted to follow in their parents' educator footsteps. He wanted to be a science teacher. Edward had wanted to change the world, one hostile takeover at a time.

Edward changed his major, deciding instead to be a teacher. His parents were shocked but delighted. His father was Headmaster at a small but prestigious school; his mother was a professor at the University of Washington. At first they had been concerned that he was trying to _become_ Ellis or some shit like that, but eventually he convinced them that he'd simply had a change of heart. He wasn't trying to become Ellis; he was trying to become the Edward of whom Ellis would have been proud. Suddenly, the financial wheelings and dealings just seemed...insignificant.

He wanted to make a difference.

He had been silent too long and he heard Rose say softly, "Are you still going there today?"

"Yeah," he answered. "I know it's probably morbid and weird, but I just..." He sighed. "It feels right."

"I get it," Rose answered. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No," he told her. "Actually, I think I need to be on my own." Like he had been that day.

"Okay," she replied. "But call me if...well, if you change your mind."

"Will do," he said. "And Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, and thanks...for being you," he said. Another lesson he had learned from Ellis's death. There were no guarantees of tomorrow. Don't hold back words that you felt today, because you might not get another chance.

"I love you too," she said with a hint of laughter. "Even if you look like a troll." It was an old joke between them, comparing his fucked up hair to that of the troll doll she'd owned as a little girl.

"You're just jealous," he accused with a snort. "This hair is the stuff of girls' fantasies and you know it! They all want to run their fingers through it, babe."

"If that's what helps you sleep at night," she retorted and then, ever a fan of getting the last word, she hung up on him.

**~~~~AATG~~~~**

Bella Swan was staring at her ceiling. Beside her, the clock ticked the seconds and minutes off with agonizing slowness. Finally, with a sigh of surrender, she slid from between the sheets and made her way out to the living room. She curled up on her sofa, pulling the quilt her mother had made her for her thirteenth birthday over her legs.

_June 10th_

It was a day that defined her life, destroying the old life and making way for a new one. She looked at the picture on her bookshelf. It was the last picture taken of her mother, taken just the day before she'd left to go to Florida to nurse her sick mother.

Grabbing the quilt and wrapping it around her shoulders, Bella went out onto the balcony. It was a warm summer night, but the chill that affected her came within. The quilt was her armor, her warmth.

Gazing up into the sky, Bella picked out the various constellations that her mother had taught her. There was comfort in the simple, familiar act. Looking up at the vastness of the stars had always been one of Renee Swan's favorite night time activities, and she had passed along that love to her daughter.

"Look at them, Bella," Renee had said that spring before the crash. "They're too many too count and they'll be here long after you and I are gone." She had laughed then. "But we take a little bit of them with us when we admire their beauty. We're insignificant to those stars, like ants to giants, but they still brighten our skies and give us a view of their majesty to keep as our own."

Her mother had had a poetic turn of phrase.

Now, on the tenth anniversary of her mother's death, she found comfort in looking at the sky. She was not surprised to hear her cell phone go off. Charlie and his new wife, Sue, had moved to South Carolina last year, just after they got married. Bella had expected to hate any woman Charlie married; instead she had been given a friend and a confidante. It had helped of course that her mother and Sue Clearwater had been best friends.

"Hello," she answered.

Sue's warm voice came over the phone. "I told you she'd be awake, Charlie!"

Bella walked back out to the balcony so she could see the sun when it rose in a few minutes. "I'm awake," she said.

"We just wanted to see how you were doing," Sue said. "I know how hard this day is for you...and for Charlie." That was the wonderful thing about Sue; she had never tried to replace Renee in either of their lives. She had simply made her own place.

"I'm fine," Bella said and then sighed. "I mean, I'm okay. Not fine, but I'm dealing."

Her father's voice came over the phone. "I miss you, baby girl."

"I miss you too, Daddy," she said.

"What are your plans today?" Charlie asked.

"I don't know," she replied. "I haven't decided." That was a lie. She had made her decision weeks ago. She was making a pilgrimage of sorts to the place where everything had changed.

"Call me later," Charlie encouraged. "Sue and I are thinking of you."

"I love you guys," Bella said. "So much."

"Yeah, kiddo, we love you too."


	3. Chapter 3: Encounters

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 3: Encounters**

Airports still made his skin crawl. Every time he walked into an airport, _any_ airport, he was transported back to that day. He never told anyone that, not even Rosalie and she knew him just about as well as any person still on the planet. Ellis would have sensed it in a heartbeat. He wouldn't even have teased him – _too_ much – simply because he would have recognized how big it was, that roiling mixture of fear and sadness.

He _had_ flown since Ellis' death, though it had taken him a year to work up the courage. He had been drugged up to his eyeballs, but that hadn't diminished the sense of triumph when he didn't lose it as the plane took off. He might or might not have tried to take a chunk out of the arm rest with his fingers on the landing, but he didn't cry like a baby or ask for his mommy. It was a triumph any way he looked at it.

But airports still gave him the creeps.

This particular airport, however, was the worst of all. That made sense, seeing that this was where he'd been when they'd told him his best friend and brother was gone. Just wiped off the face of the earth in one shattering instant. One moment Ellis had been alive and healthy, the next he was gone, nothing more than a few bits of bone and ash amidst the wreckage of a crash scene.

Taking a deep breath, Edward pushed his way farther into the airport. They had reconfigured it since 9/11, of course. In fact today he wouldn't even be able to get to the terminal where they'd all been waiting that day. He could get close, and that was enough. It wasn't about recreating the day, hell no. It was about paying tribute, remembering.

Forcing a bland, bored expression on his face, Edward wandered through the airport for a few moments. Then he spotted the Starbucks right outside the new security area. He'd gone there that day. So he went today.

He got in line, trying to decide what to get and then just went with a classic, boring coffee. He took his cup, ignoring the young woman's obvious offer of something more than a caffeinated beverage and went to sit in the seats provided for those waiting to meet a flight.

The coffee was probably delicious but it might have been stagnant water for all he enjoyed it. He sipped at it, wondering what he really hoped to accomplish with this little pilgrimage. He had just seemed right at the time; of course there was always the distinct possibility that he was full of shit and didn't have a clue what he was doing. Yes, that was always possible, he conceded.

About thirty minutes later, a slender young woman, also nursing a steaming cup of Starbucks, took a seat in row opposite him, facing his direction. She didn't look up. She didn't have a book or an iPod like so many travelers. She simply sat there, her eyes on the floor, her hands clutched around the cup.

Surreptitiously, he studied her. Something about her nagged at a memory, either too old or too buried to come to the fore very quickly. She was lovely, in a quiet way. She didn't have the flashy kind of good looks that would garner quick attention in a club, but there was something classic about her that would draw eyes and admiration in a quieter setting where its subtlety could be appreciated. Her beauty seemed to be enhanced the more he watched her.

Finally, her eyes flashed up to meet his. They were dark pools of pain, a look he recognized quite well. And in that instant it came to him.

A gangly girl, all braces and blushes.

After arguing with himself for a moment, he decided that he might as well speak to her. It would be too coincidental that she'd be here – on_ this_ day – for any casual reason. Like him, it would seem that she had chosen to spend this day remembering.

"Excuse me," he said softly and her eyes shot up to his for just a moment before lowering yet again. "I know you," he said after a long pause. He had formulated a dozen sentences in his head and yet had still blurted the first thing that came to mind.

"I thought I recognized you too," she admitted quietly. Their eyes met again and this time she did not look away. He found himself strangely giddy at the little victory.

"Your mother...she was on the plane that day," he said. It was not a question. There was no doubt in his mind. Of course the papers had run profiles on all the local victims and their families. It had been big news in its time. He vaguely remembered her presence at a memorial for those lost on Flight 7798, but he had been too drunk to really interact with anyone. Everyone had read his mood quite clearly and avoided him that day, even his own family. He couldn't blame them.

The young woman nodded and suddenly Edward wished he had paid more attention so that he would at least know her name. That was fixed easily enough, he mused. He held out his hand with a slight smile. "I'm Edward Cullen."

"Bella Swan," she said and Edward's hand tightened on hers spasmodically.

Swan.

Swan.

Now _that_ name meant a bit more than the rather anonymous list of names associated with Flight 7798. He tilted his head and gazed at her curiously. "Was your mother _Renee_ Swan?"

Bella nodded and Edward knew she was connecting the dots just as he was. '

"Your mother...she was assigned to sit on the aisle seat in the same row where my brother was," Edward said. The airlines had released seating assignments as part of the investigation into the crash.

"Ellis Cullen was in the window seat," Bella said and he almost flinched at the sound of his brother's name on her lips. Then she shrugged. "At least that was the seating assignment."

Her mother was the woman in his dreams, the one holding his – no, holding _Ellis'_ hand. The woman who always looked the same in his dreams as she had in the newspaper pictures, her expression frozen forever in that moment.

At first, he wondered at the coincidence of meeting _her_. Here. Now. Then he shrugged. It had been a relatively small plane, after all and everyone had had to be seated near _someone_. There had only been 37 passengers and crew that day, thirty seven lives lost. Not so much in the big scheme of things, he admitted. It was just huge on the small scale.

They didn't speak for a few moments, but to his surprise the silence was not uncomfortable. He finished off the now cool cup of coffee and watched as she did the same. "Would you like some more?" he offered. "My treat."

She smiled widely then and once again, she became more beautiful in his eyes. "Anymore and I'll never get to sleep."

Of course, not being able to sleep tonight of all nights was going to be about a lot more than caffeine. He acknowledged that truth with a nod. He looked around him, watching all of the scurrying travelers who were already annoyed and short tempered. He studied the families waiting for loved ones and remembered when he too had just always assumed that that loved one would arrive safe and sound.

Abruptly, he turned to look at Bella. "I'm done here," he decided suddenly and he knew that he was. Whatever he had hoped to find here had eluded him. Then he studied the young woman sitting across from him. Or perhaps not. "Would you like to get out of here with me? Get something to eat maybe?"

She hesitated for a moment. "My car is here," she said.

"I'll drive you to your car and you can follow me," he offered. "Or I can drive us both and bring you back for your car. Whatever works best for you."

She seemed to consider it for a moment and then shrugged. "I'll follow you, there's no need to drive all the way back here just to get my car."

"Good enough."

** ~~~~AATG~~~~**

They were sitting in a small diner. He had just consumed a delicious cheeseburger with the works and a huge order of fries. Bella had been no slouch herself, making short order of a Cuban sandwich and an order of fried pickles. They were currently sharing a piece of apple pie ala mode. His belly was trying to tell him that enough was enough already, but he didn't stop. They hadn't spoken much during their dinner, content to eat and simply be there with each other.

"Okay, so I have to ask you..." Edward began, leaning forward. "I know why I was there, but why _exactly_ were you there?"

She didn't meet his eyes; instead she studied the pie between them and lifted her shoulders in a movement that was not quite a shrug. "I don't know _exactly_," she said. "It just felt like that was where I needed to be."

"That's how I felt," he told her and her eyes met his again. The pain was not quite so evident now, but it was there, lingering. "So," he said with an obvious air of beginning again. "Give me the Cliff Notes version of Bella Swan."

Grinning, she took another bite of pie and ice cream. After a moment, she put down the fork and sighed. "Well, that's easy enough because my life is so damned boring."

"I doubt that," he protested.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, abridged version of the Life and Times of Isabella Swan..." Licking her lips, she leaned her chin on one hand. "Born and raised in Forks, Washington. Only child of Charlie and Renee Swan. Used to be a klutz but managed to grow out of it. Perpetual book worm and I hope I _never_ outgrow that. After...after, my dad and I had it rough for a while but managed to finally get it together. My mom's best friend, Sue Clearwater helped me with all the girly stuff that my mom never got to, and when her husband, one of my dad's best friends, died about five years ago, we all just sort of started making our own family. So now I have an older sister, who just got engaged, and a little brother, who seems to delight in tormenting me. He and my Dad and Sue have actually just moved to the East Coast so I miss them. A lot. I'm a nurse now, which amuses my family since I used to faint at the sight of blood." She quirked one brow at him. "And now it's your turn."

"Edward Cullen, one of three children born to Esme and Carlisle Cullen. Ellis...Ellis was my twin brother. He was older by two minutes, a fact he _never_ let me forget." She chuckled at that. "And my little sister is Rosalie. She's been my rock. She's hugged me when I needed it, but more importantly she kicked my ass when it was called for." He smiled. "I teach high school economics, history, and civics, which pleases my parents immensely since they're both educators." He shrugged. "And that's about it. See? I'm not that exciting either."

"So you admit I'm boring?" Bella challenged with a smirk.

"What? Oh no...I mean-" Then he caught the teasing glint in her eyes. "That's just mean."

"But you fell for it," she pointed out. "Which makes you gullible."

"Guilty as charged," he confessed. "Still, I did talk a pretty girl into having dinner with me." He winked. "I can't be doing too badly."

The waitress approached with their ticket and Edward realized with a shock that they had been sitting there for two hours. He put some cash on the table and recognized that he didn't want the evening to end. "Listen, I know this sounds...I don't know, maybe bizarre or impulsive or...I don't know what else, but I'd really like to see you again." No guarantees in life, he reminded himself. If you feel something good about the person you're with, you speak it.

"Are you trying to make me fat?" she asked and he blinked.

"What?"

"Well, you seem to be the kind of guy who plies a girl with Cuban sandwiches and vast amounts of pie and ice cream so I was just wondering if you were trying to fatten me up or something."

"Okay, next time we can eat celery sticks and a Cheerio," he offered.

She paused, considered it. "Nah, I'm good with pie and ice cream. You can't go wrong with ice cream."

"Good," he said. He took out his phone. "So...what do you say we exchange numbers?"

"I guess you're trustworthy," she conceded with a grin.

Twenty minutes later, Edward was driving home and thinking about the unexpected encounter with someone from his past. The evening hadn't been at all what he expected. Somehow, he had imagined they would spend all of their time hashing out different accounts of the crash, or at least sharing stories of the ones they'd lost. Instead, it had just been a pleasant evening between a man and a woman he found very attractive.

He smiled, catching his own eyes in the rearview mirror.


	4. Chapter 4: Stalking Bella Swan

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

_**Author's Note: This story is not based on the September 11th attacks. The crash in question took place in June of 1999. Also, I'd like to wish my oldest son a happy birthday!**_

**Chapter 4: Stalking Bella Swan**

Edward was not surprised to hear his cell phone go off almost the moment he walked into his home. He was also not surprised to see that it was Rose who was calling him. She seemed to have a strange sixth sense about him. At times, he had the fanciful notion that Ellis had given her his "twin sense" when he died. Or it might have simply been that his little sister was observant, intelligent, and nosey. In any case, she had a way of showing up or calling at exactly the right – in her eyes at least – moment.

Smiling, he tossed his keys on the foyer table. "Yes?" he answered.

Rose sighed and Edward knew he was in for a lecture. "I've been waiting and waiting and _waiting_..." she began. "I was waiting for my big brother to call me and let me know he was okay. I was waiting for my big brother to call me so I'd know if I needed to come over or not. I was waiting for-"

He laughed. "Yeah, yeah, you were waiting for your big brother to call you." He sat down on the couch. "I get the picture. I've failed as a big brother."

"Well, you had a little stumble," Rose admitted. "But you've never failed me." As always, he was humbled by her faith in him. Then she added. "I was wondering if I needed to come over there and kick your ass. You caught a break, Cullen, because I was just about to grab my keys and head over your way."

"I shudder to think of my narrow escape," he teased.

"Keep it up, history boy, and I'll call Mom," Rose threatened.

"That's playing dirty," Edward protested.

"Just saying," Rose observed.

"Fine," he conceded. "What do you want to know?"

"Duh, everything," Rose replied. "So...how was it? Should I have gone with you and just let you pout about it?"

"No," he told her. "In fact, it went far better than I could have hoped."

There was a long pause. "What aren't you telling me?" He grimaced. Damn Rose and her ability to see through all subterfuge. Her spidey senses were probably tingling, and rightfully so.

"What makes you think there's something I'm not telling you?" he prevaricated.

"We can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way," Rose warned. "Your choice, but you've got about five seconds to decide."

"God, you're a pain in the ass," Edward had to laugh as he said it.

"Just one of the many reasons I'm the best sister in the world," Rose commented blithely. "Now spill the beans or it'll be the hard way. Which involves dear old Mom and Dad, in case you've forgotten."

Somehow, over the past ten years, he and Rose had entered into some sort of unspoken conspiracy to trouble their parents as little as possible. The whole family had been rocked by Ellis' death, and both of them had watched their parents' marriage suffer. They had healed it now, but it had been a near thing.

Edward laughed again. "Okay, I..." He sighed. "Well, it was the weirdest thing, Rose. I was sitting there, thinking about the day and what it meant to all of us and..." He closed his eyes as he remembered his first good look at her. "And then this woman came and sat down near me and I... Suddenly, I realized that I didn't _need_ to be there anymore. That I could feel whatever I was feeling anywhere."

There was a pause. "Tell me more," Rose asked quietly.

"You'll never believe it, but the woman – the one who sat near me – she was there for the same reason," Edward said.

"No fucking way!"

"I know, totally weird, right?" Edward said. "But it doesn't stop there. It just gets weirder and weirder."

"Can't get weirder than that," Rose retorted.

"Wait," Edward told her. "Okay, I'm not sure if you remember any of the information the airlines released to us, but the woman who was assigned to sit in Ellis' row, her name was-"

"Renee Swan," Rose interrupted.

"Renee Swan," Edward agreed. "The woman in the airport today? Well, that was Renee Swan's daughter. Her name is Bella."

Another pause, but this one was significantly longer. "So you're telling me that you were at the airport to hold your own sort of memorial for Ellis and this woman, this Bella Swan was there to do exactly the same thing for her mother – who just happened to be sitting next to Ellis when they crashed?" Rose made a strangled sort of sound and Edward wondered if she was crying. Then he realized she was trying to hold in her laughter. "Oh Edward, only you could meet a woman in those circumstances. I swear to God, you have the devil's own luck sometimes. Only you would go there to wallow and end up with a date, because I'm guessing that's what happened?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You're not denying it," Rose pointed out.

"That's beside the point," Edward said stubbornly.

"Still no denial," Rose said.

"Remind me why I love you?"

"Because I'm all kinds of awesome," Rose replied. "And you know it."

"If by awesome you mean rude, pushy, and loud, then yeah, you're awesome," Edward retorted.

"You're just trying to deflect and distract now, Eddie," Rose taunted him. "And it's not working." He muttered a curse under his breath, but it only made Rose laugh at him. Then she said softly, "Tell me about her." He could hear the smile in her voice.

"Well..." he began. "She's pretty, _very_ pretty. And sweet and understanding and-"

"Please tell me that you two didn't sit around having a cry-fest and bonding over lost loved ones. Because if you did, then I really am going to kick your ass. And hers too." Edward knew it wasn't an idle threat. "That's not a date, that's a group session."

"Actually, that's not what happened at all," Edward told her. "We talked about them a bit, yes. But overall, we were just a man and a woman getting to know each other. It was...it was very nice actually."

"You sound surprised," Rose said.

"I _am_ surprised," Edward admitted.

"Are you seeing her again?"

He smiled then. "I am."

**~~~AATG~~~~**

Bella put her purse on the kitchen counter and opened the refrigerator out of habit. In truth, she wasn't hungry at all. She had eaten practically her own body weight at the diner. For the past week, she hadn't had much of an appetite with the anniversary looming ahead of her. But she had been surprised to discover that she was ravenous when she had sat down in the booth opposite of Edward.

When she had gotten dressed that morning, she had never guessed that when she got home that night, a sense of happy anticipation would be brightening her mood. Along with the anticipation, there was no sense of guilt, which was just another surprise.

A soft meow made her turn. "There you are," she murmured, bending down to pick up the black and white cat winding around her legs. "Where were you this morning, you little traitor?"

Sebastian merely blinked at her with wide green eyes and meowed again. "Hungry, huh?''

He butted his head against her chin and began purring. "All right, all right, no need to pull out the big guns. You want dinner, I'm guessing?"

With the magic word, he jumped from her arms and sauntered toward the corner of the kitchen and sat in front of his bowl, looking over his shoulder as if telling her to hurry. Bella quickly opened a can of food and emptied it out into his bowl. He ate it all in about thirty seconds flat and then blinked up at her as if to ask where his dinner was.

"You ate it, you piggy," Bella told him. "I should have named you Wilbur." He blinked lazily and began licking one paw.

"I met someone, Sebastian," she said softly. He looked at her and then hiked up one leg to lick at his stomach. "I can see you're impressed," she said with a chuckle. She knelt down scratched behind his ears. "His eyes are even greener than yours." Sebastian's eyes went wide and he started purring loudly. She picked him up and nuzzled against him. "But no one could replace you, my bad boy."

He rubbed against her ear and then gave it a little nip. "Ouch," she said. "Jealous, are we?"

He jumped from her arms again and stalked away, his tail waving like a banner in the air.

**~~AATG~~~**

They exchanged texts and calls for a few days as Bella had to work. He was still doing some last minute things for the school year that had just ended and she had a few things to attend to as well, so they weren't able to get together.

Soon, she was back at work for the next three days and about an hour before she had to leave for work, her cell phone went off. She was pleased to see Edward's name scroll across the screen. She had programmed in his number so she didn't inadvertently screen his call.

"Hello?"

"Is this Bella?" a smooth voice asked.

"The one and only," she teased.

"Thank God," Edward said. "I've been calling random numbers hoping to find a woman named Bella. It's my favorite name but the search has been exhausting."

"You should pick a more common name," she told him.

"I used to be looking for a Mary, but there were too many of them, so now it's Bella."

"Good plan."

"So...how would you like to have dinner sometime?" he asked after a short pause.

"When?"

"So you're still willing to go out with me even though I tend to push Cuban sandwiches and pie?" he asked with a laugh.

"Well, only if there is more ice cream included," she qualified. "I'm all about the ice cream."

"How about tomorrow?" he asked.

She sighed. "Sorry, can't," she said. "I'm on the night shift for the next three nights, so that means I go in at seven."

"That sucks."

"It's not so bad," she said. "You get used to the hours."

"I never did find out what hospital you worked at," Edward prompted.

"Are you going to stalk me now?" she asked with a laugh.

"Well of course, that's all part of the plan. First the pie, then the stalking," he answered solemnly. "It's a complicated process."

"Okay, as long as I know the rules," she said. "But you know, a really good stalker would find out that information for himself."

"Ah yes, but I'm a _lazy_ stalker," Edward said. "I prefer to have my stalkee do some of the work for me."

"You really are lazy," she mocked.

"I'm on summer vacation," he reminded her. "School's out for summer, remember?"

"Must be nice," she drawled.

"Listen, you only work three days a week, so what do you have to complain about?" he accused playfully.

"True," she admitted. "But I tend to be elbow deep in blood and guts while I'm at work. I don't think you can say the same thing."

"You _really_ don't remember high school do you?"

"Ha ha." She smiled and ignored Sebastian who was staring at her. The cat had the uncanny knack for making her feel guilty about the oddest things. "I work at the University of Washington Medical Center."

"Oh, you_ are_ brave," Edward said. "A teaching hospital? Don't tell me, you're the Florence Nightingale of the emergency room, right?"

"Only the best," she said.

"So...Miss Nightingale do you get a lunch break?"

"If I'm not elbow deep in guts, then sure," she said. "But I can't count on it and it's never long."

"Do you get ten minutes free?" he pressed.

"Sometimes."

"Well, is it okay if I text you tomorrow and drop by with some dinner for you if it's a good time?" he offered.

"Wow, that's really considerate of you, being a stalker and everything," she answered.

"Is that a yes?"

She paused just long enough to make him nervous. "That's a yes."


	5. Chapter 5: Well That Was Awkward

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 5: Well That Was Awkward**

Edward grinned to himself as he packed a dinner for them. He put their meals into the bags, and then carefully placed the huge platter that was a surprise in a canvas bag. He was quite pleased with himself and his foresight. Besides, he had seen how food disappeared in the teachers' lounge.

He quickly texted Bella in order to make sure that she would at least be able to manage a short break.

**Unless all hell breaks loose, then tonight's as good as any. :)**

That was good enough for him.

The emergency room was bustling, as he thought it must always be. A large teaching hospital, Bella's place of employment was an imposing maze to the uninitiated. And Edward was as uninitiated as they got. He had never spent much time in hospitals, or doctors' offices for that matter. He and his siblings had been remarkably healthy, and had even managed to get through their childhoods without too many serious injuries. He still wasn't sure how they had managed that, especially seeing how he and Ellis had egged each other on continuously.

He paused, realizing that he had thought of his brother without that familiar ache blooming in his gut. It was...nice.

The security guard nodded at him as he walked by and Edward was immediately hit by the noise as the doors into the emergency department opened. Stopping at the desk, Edward leaned in and gave the receptionist his most charming smile and held up the bags of food. "I'm here for Bella Swan, ma'am" he explained. "May I go back and take her her dinner?"

The receptionist was an older woman and she apparently approved of his manners because she gave him a wide smile and hit a button. The double doors on his left opened up. "You go right on through, sugar," she said in a thick Southern accent. "That little gal will sure be happy to see you, I'd imagine."

To his chagrin, Edward felt a faint heat staining his cheeks, but he ducked his head and nodded.

It took only two minutes and asking three different scurrying people to find Bella. Finally, a dark-haired nurse grinned at him. "Just a minute." He expected her to go get Bella; instead she called out, "_Hey Bella_, your handsome teacher guy is here!"

Bella immediately stuck her head out of a curtained room and shot her friend the bird. "I'll be just a-"

The other woman just shoved Edward toward Bella. "You two go on ahead. I'll take care of your patient. You covered for me enough times when I had other things to take care of..." With that she laughed and winked and Edward was suddenly very sure he didn't want to know what was behind that laughter.

Rolling her eyes, Bella looped a stethoscope around her neck. "Thanks, Ang, I owe you."

"Oh, I know you do," Ang said with a flirtatious smile at Edward. "It's a good thing I'm very happily married you know."

"Don't make me gut you," Bella said casually. Then she turned to him and grinned. "Hey, you. It sure is nice to see such a friendly face in here."

Then she tried to peek around his back where he had hidden the food.

"What'd'ya bring me?" she asked, holding out her hands like a greedy child.

"It's a surprise," he scolded.

"But we're going to be eating in a minute," she explained. "I'll see it then."

"Yes, but first..." He brought out the big canvas bag and withdrew the absolutely gigantic platter of cookies. He then placed the platter on a desk in the middle of the ER and, like some sort of silent alarm had sounded, personnel began crowding around the desk almost before he had stepped away.

"Oh my God," Bella said. "You're actually feeding them. We're like Gremlins, you know. If you feed us after midnight, terrible things happen."

"It's only ten at night," he reminded her.

"True, and those piggies will have that stuff gone in about twenty minutes, so no worries I guess." Then she grinned. "Now, where are _my_ goodies?"

He held up the large paper bag and shook it. "Right here, you greedy little thing."

"Come on," she said and tugged at his free hand. "There's a break room that'll be empty since they will have smelled the cookies by now."

Sure enough, the break room was empty. He pulled out her chair for her, which earned him a look of surprise and then a little nod of her head. He studied her for a moment. Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun and she was wearing scrubs with what looked like a child's drawings in crayon bright colors all over them. Her stethoscope was hanging around her neck and she looked a little pale under the fluorescent lights. She was also, he decided, exquisitely beautiful.

"What?" she asked, self-consciously wiping at her cheek.

"Nothing," he said, pulling at her hand. "I was just thinking how beautiful you are."

"Oh." She seemed uncertain then and tilted her head as she gazed at him.

"Here," Edward said with a slight smile as he pushed a small, lunch-sized bag her way. "Your dinner, madam."

She opened it and frowned for a moment, and then she poured out the contents. Two slender celery sticks and two Cheerios landed on the palm of her hand. Her lips pressed together and she looked at him. He waited. Finally she laughed. "_Two_ Cheerios? I thought we had agreed that one would be adequate?"

He shrugged. "I was feeling generous."

"I'm so glad," she said and then popped the cereal into her mouth. She began eating the first celery stick, but about halfway through it, she put it down and pushed away from the table, groaning heavily. "I can't eat another bite," she moaned. "I'm stuffed!'

"That's too bad," Edward commiserated as he opened up the larger bag. "Because in this bag right here I have genuine, homemade chicken parmesan." He opened the container and sort of waved the aroma in her direction. "I guess I'll have to eat it all myself." He took out a fork and prepared to do just that.

"If you make one more move toward that food, you're going to end up needing our services," Bella promised him with a smirk. "And I don't fix any damage I cause."

"I'll consider myself warned," he said. He dished out a large portion for her on the plates he brought with him and then handed her a fork.

Bella took one bite and gave a moan that had him shifting in his seat. "Oh. My. God..." She closed her eyes and practically hummed with satisfaction. "Who the hell made this? It's divine."

"_I_ made it, thank you very much," Edward said.

"Will you marry me?" Bella replied immediately. "Seriously, I've got great benefits here. You'd be surprised. And you could make me meals every night and bring them to me. You could quit work and I'd take care of you, baby. I promise I would. You could just stay home and cook for me. That's all you'd have to do."

"You mean you wouldn't want sexual favors?" he teased.

"Oh, well that goes without saying," Bella told him and shoveled another bite into her mouth. When she finally swallowed it, she looked at him and smiled wickedly. "But if you're absolutely terrible in bed, this chicken parmesan will make up for it."

His lips quirked. "It's good to know that you'll be patient with me."

"Honey, for cooking like this, I'd write you a freaking instruction manual with diagrams and everything," Bella promised.

"Just eat your food before I do something I'll regret," he suggested.

"I'm just saying..."

"This is my mother's recipe," Edward explained. "She'll be glad to know that you approve."

Bella considered that for a moment and then said softly, "Do you think your _mom_ would want to marry me then?" She winked. "I need a wife, I really do."

** ~~~AATG~~~**

Bella had to leave briefly, but asked him to stay. A few minutes later she was back and they talked. Then Edward noticed that he had been there 45 minutes and he didn't want to interfere with her work too much. She told him that she would walk him out to his car. As they walked by the security desk, she tapped the guard on the shoulder. "Hey Gus? This here's my special friend Edward. He's cool to park close by, okay?"

Gus, who appeared to be 90 if he was a day, gave her an adoring smile and nodded. "If he's okay by you, Miss Bella then he's okay by me."

"Thanks, Gus," she said.

They got to his car and Edward expected an awkward moment. He got one. He put the bags in his car and then turned to her. Bella put her hands in her scrub pockets and rocked on her toes for a moment. She seemed to pause for an instant but then she leaned forward abruptly and pressed her lips to his. He felt the warmth of them and then they were gone before he could deepen the kiss.

"There," she muttered as she leaned away. "Got that out of the way."

"You really know how to charm a guy," he teased. "Stop, please, or you'll inflate my ego beyond bearing."

"Sorry," she said. "It's just...I've wanted to do that...since, well since I saw you."

"That's better," he encouraged. "A man likes to hear stuff like that."

She smiled again and then moved closer and enfolded him in her warm, strong arms. Resting her face against his chest, she murmured, "You smell really nice."

He sniffed her hair. "Thank you, so do you."

Leaning back, she looked up at him. "Thanks for the dinner. It was amazing, as I think we've already established."

"You're most welcome." He paused. "Listen, I was wondering if you'd like to go out Saturday afternoon."

Something shifted in her expression and Edward was not surprised when she shook her head. "Saturday? Uh...I can't that day. I have plans, but-"

"No, no, that's fine," Edward said and turned away.

Her hand on his arm stopped him. "I just have this..._thing_ I do on Saturday afternoon on my weekends off," she said quietly. "Could we maybe get together Saturday night or Sunday afternoon?"

He had been sure she was blowing him off; instead she had offered him an alternative. It was refreshing not to feel as if he needed to play games with her and his relief showed in his smile. He felt her hand relax on his arm. "Yeah, that would be great. Sorry I just sort of assumed-" Edward shrugged, feeling like an enormous ass.

"Maybe one weekend you could go with me," Bella said tentatively. "Where I go...it means a lot to me and I'd like to share it when I'm ready."

"Oh," he said in surprise. "Well, okay then, when you're ready, I'd be honored." Then he grinned. "You're not taking me to some BDSM club or something are you? Because I have to tell you, leather chafes me like a bitch."

"No whips, no chains," Bella promised, holding up her hand like a good girl scout.

He leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose. "Then count me in...when you're ready."

Bella briefly caressed the side of his face and then turned to walk away. But when she was just about six feet away, she turned and called his name. "Hey Edward?" He opened his window. "I'll bet you look really amazing in leather, chafing or not."

Then she laughed and strolled away, leaving him gaping after her.


	6. Chapter 6: Connections

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

_**Author's Note: My granddaughter arrives tomorrow for a week long visit so I'm not sure how much I'll get to update anything while she's here. If she's awake, I plan to be spoiling her. So... here's one more chapter before she arrives. **_

**Chapter 6: Connections**

Edward had not always enjoyed dinners with his family. There had been a few years when they had all been defined by the seat that was empty and dinners were silent, awkward affairs that had to be endured not enjoyed. Slowly, that feeling had been fading. Healing was a process, he had come to accept, not a moment. Tonight, however, he was feeling rather good about sitting around a table with the people he loved best. They tried to get together one night a month simply to stay connected in each other's lives.

"So, Edward," his father said. "Rose told us you went to the airport." There was no need to clarify when he had gone to the airport, of course.

Edward glanced at his sister, who was eyeing him in return, as if curious what he would actually reveal. He winked at her and then nodded at his father. "Yeah, I did actually."

"And was it...okay?" his mother asked.

"It was fine," Edward assured her. "In fact, it was more than fine."

"Oh really?" Esme remarked, sounding way too casual.

Edward rolled his eyes. "Very subtle, guys," he admonished his parents. He jerked his head toward his sister. "Like bigmouth over here hasn't already blabbed."

His mother grinned and leaned forward, for once resting her elbows on the dining room table, which was usually strictly forbidden. "So tell me all about it."

"Well, first I got some coffee at Starbucks and then I sat down and just sort of chilled for a while. And then after the airport I went to a diner and got some dinner and then I-"

"All right, smartass, you know what I mean," Esme scolded. "Tell me all about here."

"Oh...well why didn't you say so?" Edward teased.

"You're not too old to spank, you know," Esme warned.

"I'm pretty sure that's both illegal and immoral, Mom," he informed her with a grin. "Besides, I'm pretty damned fast and you'd have to catch me first."

"Not if I trip you," Esme said slyly.

Edward shot his father a look. "She's sneaky, isn't she?"

"That's what keeps me young," Carlisle replied with a wide smile.

"I'm still waiting," Esme said, tapping her fingers on the table.

"Well, let me see, where shall I start?" Edward began. "Her name is Bella Swan and she was at the airport for the same reason I was, as it turned out." He tilted his head and he did not know it, but a smile his family had never seen before transformed his face. "We went out for dinner after and ate until we were practically in a coma. Then a few days later I took dinner to her at work."

"Where does she work?" Carlisle asked.

"She's a nurse at the University of Washington Medical center – in the emergency room," Edward replied.

Rosalie nodded, obviously impressed. "She must remain pretty cool under pressure then." Rosalie was a big fan of staying cool under pressure, a process she had perfected herself.

"She does," Edward admitted. Then he shook his head and gave a little laugh. "Apparently, she used to faint at the sight of blood, so she says her family is still a bit surprised at her career choice."

"She sounds like a woman who knows how to overcome obstacles," Carlisle noted.

"Edward," his mother began tentatively. "It sounds like you really like this woman."

"I do," he affirmed.

She paused and traced a pattern on the tablecloth with her fingernail. "Are you sure...are you sure that you haven't connected with her because of...well, because of the crash?" Her eyes finally met his and he smiled reassuringly at her.

"I'm sure, Mom," he said. "Besides, that's just how we met. It's not at all the basis of what we share." He took a deep breath. "In fact, we haven't really talked about it much at all, even that first night. We have that in common, yes, but that's only one small part of what we share. I like her, as a person, Mom, as a _woman_. She's beautiful and smart and funny and probably the most interesting person I've ever met."

Rose beamed at him. "Good," she approved. "So when do we meet her?"

Three pairs of eyes were suddenly trained on him and Edward felt like the room had suddenly gotten much too hot. "Let me get to know her a little better before I spring all of you on her," he said.

"Chicken," Rose muttered.

**~~~AATG~~~**

It was Saturday and it had been ten days since he had met Bella. This date was usually a thing he dreaded now. It was a reminder of everything he had lost and all that he would never know again. But today...well today a strange sense of hope had taken hold of him.

And today, there would be Bella.

Today was also the day she had mysterious plans that did not include him. Yet. He was hopeful that one day she would include him in whatever it was. While the situation did pique his curiosity, he was confident that Bella was not the sort of woman who played games or practiced deception. So he was content to wait and earn her trust and his place in the private spaces of her life.

Tonight, they would have dinner together. He had offered to cook for her again and she had accepted his offer. Tonight, he was going with a classic dish – the ever popular pot roast. Luckily, his mother's recipe for that was as good as her recipe for chicken parmesan.

He smiled, whistling under his breath as he worked.

**~~~AATG~~~~**

Bella sat at the small kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee. Emmett might have been an indifferent cook, but the man sure could brew a mean cup of coffee. It was the first quiet moment that they had had since she arrived and she relished the peace of it. There was nothing quite like the serenity that fell over a house after an active child fell asleep, she mused.

Emmett had been watching her carefully, especially since they had come into the kitchen. "You look different," he noted.

"I had to work last night so I haven't had much sleep," she said, and then stuck out her tongue. "You're always supposed to tell women how pretty they look."

He shrugged. "I didn't say it was a bad different, just different." Reaching over, he squeezed her hand. "Besides, you always look gorgeous. You know that."

"Ha ha, flattery will get you everywhere," she responded. "You look like crap too. So there."

"Someone's cranky," he observed, and then took another sip of his coffee.

Bella sighed heavily and blew her hair out of her face. She had pulled it back into a ponytail for her visit. It was easier that way, and besides, little hands tugged hard, as she knew from experience. "I'm not cranky," she argued. Then she looked at him from beneath her lashes and gave a secretive little smile.

"Well now, what is _this_?" Emmett asked in surprise. "Is that...I do believe that's a 'I might get laid' smile!"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Absolutely not." Then she smirked. "At least not tonight. I'm not that kind of girl, you know."

"So...there's the possibility of sex in the near future?" Emmett asked. He leaned forward. "Do tell."

"You'll laugh," she said softly.

"Bella, you've seen me at my lowest low. Hell, you've wiped my face after I've puked and you've kicked my ass when I needed it. Hell Bella, after Michelle died, we'd have never made it without you and you know it." His huge hand squeezed hers tightly. "Nothing you could do will ever make me think any less of you." His fingers brushed over her cheek. "You've been our rock, our guardian angel." He jerked his head toward his daughter's room. "She'd be lost without you. So would I."

Bella looked down at the table. "I met someone."

Emmett snorted. "Obviously."

Her eyes flashed up to his. "I met him at the airport."

He frowned at her. "When did you go to the airport?"

"On the tenth," she answered after a short pause.

"Well hell, girl, why didn't you tell me you were going? I would have gone with you, you know that." He sounded hurt and Bella had to reassure him.

"No, no," she said. "It was something I had to do alone. I..." She shrugged. "I can't explain it, and even if I had been fit company I know how hard it is to get a baby-sitter and..." Her voice trailed off and she started rearranging the salt and pepper shakers along with the tiny carton of cream and the sugar bowl.

"Well, you _are_ the best baby-sitter in town," Emmett agreed. "But I'd have managed. For you."

"I know, but there was no need," Bella insisted. "Anyway...I met him there. The funny thing was that he was there for the same reason."

"He had someone on the plane?" Emmett asked in disbelief. Not many people knew about Bella's mother or Flight 7798. To anyone who asked, she simply said her mother had died in an accident when Bella was fifteen. But she had, as Emmett noted, seen him at his lowest. It was only natural and right that she shared more with him.

Bella nodded. "His brother, his_ twin_ brother, was on the same flight."

"Holy hell," Emmett breathed. "That's fucked up, Bella."

"Hey!" She glared at him.

"No," he shook his head. "No I didn't mean it's fucked up you met him or anything." He smiled sadly. "It's just fucked up that there are so many people hurting in this world, you know?" And he had more cause to know that than most people.

"Yeah, well life _is_ fucked up. Didn't you get the memo?" she asked dryly.

"True," he agreed. He rested his chin on his hand. "But then sometimes out of all the fuckedupness of it all, something wonderful happens." He brushed her hair out of her face. "We'd never have made it without you. Still couldn't, if you want to know the truth. Sometimes you're the only thing that gets us through another day."

"No, you'd have managed because you had to," she disagreed. "But I'm glad I've been here for both of you."

"Me and my girl in there? Well, we can never repay you for what you've done for us, but I'll never stop trying."

"Friends don't need to be repaid," she reminded him. Bella looked at the clock with a sigh. "Listen, I hate to run, but-"

"Bella's got a date..." Emmett sang.

"Yes, I have a date, as odd as that seems," Bella said as they stood up. She stood on her toes to brush a kiss over his cheek. "Tell her I love her when she wakes up and that I'll see her soon," Bella said.

"Will do," Emmett promised. He walked her to the front door. "Hey, listen, Bella?"

"Yeah?"

He tilted up her chin and studied her. "You deserve to be happy you know, so don't...don't push him away because you're afraid or something. Yeah, sometimes love kicks you in the balls, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth it."

"Let me guess...Shakespeare?"

"Voltaire," Emmett dead-panned. "Besides, any man would be lucky to have you."

"Except you?" she teased. It was an old joke between them.

He shuddered dramatically. "God, that'd be like getting involved with my sister or something. Gross."

"Wow, I'm feeling the love," she said.

"You know what I mean," he added more seriously.

"I do," she said and let him off the hook.


	7. Chapter 7 Technically Speaking

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

_**Author's Note: I just wanted to clear up one thing for those who were curious. Bella isn't just a baby-sitter. Not by a long shot. There's a much larger back story there and all will be revealed in time. But she isn't a mother. Emmett's wife has been dead three years; she did not die in the plane crash. Her death is completely unrelated. As for not just telling Edward where she was, which would have been the logical thing to do, all I can say is that Bella gets a little protective over people she cares about. Hopefully, it will all make sense. I'm not intentionally dragging it out; it just needs to develop in a certain way. And I will apologize in advance for ending this chapter where I did. To accommodate the rest of the scene I had to do it that way. I'll accept the tongue lashings as my due. I was as surprised as anyone else when I found time to actually write a chapter yesterday while waiting for my granddaughter to get here. She's gotten so big and so grown up, I hardly recognize her!**_

**Chapter 7: Technically Speaking**

Bella had insisted that she would drive over to Edward's house instead of him picking her up. She was kind of anxious to see where he lived, to get a glimpse into his private world. Not that Edward seemed closed off, she admitted, but there was something intimate about seeing how a person lived their everyday life.

When she pulled up, she took note of the freshly mown lawn, some plants that graced the front porch, and the generally inviting air of the place. She only had time for one quick knock before the door was being opened and she was welcomed with a hug. She sniffed appreciatively when she got inside. "Smells good in here," she noted.

"That means I'm doing something right with dinner then," he said. "Please, come on in."

Edward tugged at her hand. "Do you want something to drink? I have beer, tea, soda...I'll probably keep the harder stuff in reserve for later." He wriggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.

"I should probably warn you, the odds are good that I can out drink you," she informed him.

"I have no doubt," Edward agreed immediately. "I can't hold my liquor at all. I have the alcohol tolerance of a twelve year."

"Did you do a lot of drinking when you were twelve?" Bella asked.

He shrugged. "I've lived a sordid past, you might as well know that now."

"I'll consider myself warned," Bella promised.

They grinned at each other. "Come on, I'll give you the grand tour." His living room was done in shades of blue and grey, a soothing blend that invited one to sit down and relax and forget about the world outside. Bookshelves filled with all sorts of books lined the walls as well as an impressive selection of DVDs. "What can I say, I like to read and I like to watch movies," he told her when she gave him a questioning look.

"You could run your own Blockbuster," Bella noted. Then she looked at the titles more closely. "And...they're alphabetized." She shot him an amused look. "Anything else I should know?"

He looked briefly embarrassed. "I used to arrange them by genre, but too many of them overlapped." He shrugged. "I got tired of looking for the movie I wanted." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "My little OCD tendency isn't a deal breaker is it?"

"No, just curious." They moved along toward the short hallway.

"Here's the guest bedroom," Edward said, holding open the door to a generic but neat little bedroom. Then he smiled more widely. "And here..." he said, opening the door. "Is the master bedroom."

This room was done in deep green and off-white. The bed was huge, taking a prominent place in the middle of the generously sized room. A master bath could be seen from the doorway and Bella spotted a nice, walk-in shower that pretty much screamed "shower sex!"

"So this is where you lure the ladies with your promises of ice cream, huh?"

"Whatever works," he said.

"I'm keeping an eye on you, Cullen."

"How about you keep an eye on me in the kitchen?" he offered, taking her hand once more. His kitchen was nicely appointed and very functional. There was an island in the middle and on it was an impressive rack of spices that obviously was used quite frequently. In fact, it was clear that Edward Cullen used his kitchen quite a bit.

"We're having pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy, and baby peas, if that is acceptable," Edward offered as Bella took a look around.

"Sounds yummy," she mused.

He gently pulled her into his arms and lightly placed a kiss on her lips. Bella put her arms around his neck and slipped her tongue between his lips and teeth, letting it rub against his. He gave a little moan/sigh and tightened his arms around her slightly. When she finally pulled back, he smiled slowly. "I've wanted to do that since the moment you walked into my house," he admitted.

"I've wanted to do that too," Bella returned.

Nodding, he ran his hands through his hair. "Good, then," he muttered, sounding unaccountably nervous. She found it adorable and wanted to tell him so, but decided that would only make him more nervous. So she admired in silence.

She liked watching him move around his kitchen. A million women knew it already, but there was something incredibly sexy about watching a man move with confidence in the kitchen. It was like seeing a big, gruff guy hold a baby with the utmost tenderness, or a really handsome man proudly displaying his wedding ring for the world to see. Edward was like that, she realized. He was open and honest and just himself.

A half hour and a half of bottle of wine later, they were sitting down to eat. Edward had insisted on doing everything until Bella put her foot down. She would set the table at least. He finally caved, though he did a bit of manly grumbling about it. She ignored him.

Taking her first bite of the roast, Bella closed her eyes and simply savored. "Oh. My. God," she practically whimpered. "You're like the Rachel Ray of the teaching world or something, aren't you?"

"You couldn't have gone with a Wolfgang Puck or something?" he teased.

"You can cook, my man, and that's all I need to know," she replied. "That offer of marriage is still out there. This clinched it," she said, waving her fork with a bit of roast on it.

"There are these places called restaurants..." he teased.

"Nothing beats homemade," she argued. "Nothing."

**~~~AATG~~~**

After dinner, they snuggled on his comfy couch and brought the bottle of wine with them. They spent most of the evening talking about their childhoods for some reason. It had started when Edward had asked her to explain a rather odd scar on her arm. It looked odd; it looked like teeth marks.

She had held up it proudly and displayed it before him. "Oh, that one's got a good story behind it."

"Did something actually bite you?" he asked, not sure if he should be laughing or horrified.

"Hell yeah," she answered. "My best friend Jake." And she beamed at him.

"Okay, well now you have to tell me how the hell that happened," Edward said.

"We grew up together, and one day when we were wrestling-"

"Hold on, you were _wrestling_?" Edward had to ask.

"We used to watch wrestling all the time and occasionally we'd try to recreate the scene," Bella said. "It was awesome. I could jump off chairs way better than he could. He was too big to get much height and-"

"So he's huge and you were wrestling him?"

"Keep up, Edward," Bella chided. "Anyway, my size was sometimes a slight disadvantage. We were probably eleven or twelve at the time so he was already about half a foot taller than me. They grow them big on the rez and he hit his growth spurt early. So I learned to be sneaky, because you have to use all your weapons, right?" She seemed to expect agreement from him so he nodded dutifully. "Being clumsy was actually an advantage, because I could bump into them and make them spill their drinks or something and they never suspected that it was on purpose." She wore a wicked grin at the memory. "So anyway, we decided that we'd wrestle. He had me pinned and I just knew that he was going to tickle me. He knew how much I hated being tickled. So I bit him." She nodded for emphasis.

"So he bit you back?" Edward guessed.

"Well, not exactly," Bella admitted. "Jake wouldn't hurt me, not on purpose anyway. But he did bite down on my arm as a warning. Not hard, you know, just kind of how a puppy is playing but if you escalate the game then they will too? I made the mistake of using my knee for leverage. And I uh...well, I put it in a sensitive place." She looked both amused and chagrined. "It hurt. And he clamped down. Hard. It was just out of instinct, nothing malicious about it." She laughed. "Of course he puked when he got my blood in his mouth. And then when he got a look at the damage he just about got sick again. Seeing the blood made_ me_ puke, and it just went downhill from there. He apologized to me for a solid month."

"You're beautiful," he blurted.

Bella paused for a moment, looking surprised. _No wonder_, he thought with self-disgust. _She's just discovered that she's having dinner with an idiot with no verbal filter_.

"So are you," she answered and this time it was Edward who looked surprised.

"Oh..." Then her mouth was on his and he didn't care about coming up with a witty reply. Slowly, inexorably, she pushed him back so that his head was on the armrest. She hovered over him, taking her weight on her arms. One leg was in-between his, their bellies were touching...and their mouths.

Oh their mouths.

With a groan he reached up and slid his fingers into her hair, taking control of the kiss and she fell against him in response. Every part of them was pressed together then and Edward knew she could feel his body's reaction to her. Instead of being embarrassed, he decided that she had to know the effect she had on him. He resisted the urge to grind his erection against her, but only by the thinnest margin.

The kiss continued, broken only by small forays to press lips to cheeks or throats or ears. Her hands tugged lightly at his hair and he returned the favor, which earned him a throaty groan and a shiver out of her. Twisting, he turned so that she was on bottom and he allowed his hand to roam from her shoulder, down her arm, briefly skim her waist and then down her hip, her thigh, her knee. And back up again. She wriggled against him, trying to free the hands that were blocked against his chest.

"I want to touch you too," she gasped when they pulled away for air.

Groaning, he gave his approval of that plan and shifted to allow her hands access. She took full advantage of it and soon her hands were moving over his chest, clutching at his shoulders, then down his side to settle on his hip. The tips of her long fingers brushed against his ass and he felt the touch like a brand.

Realizing that he was fast approaching a point of no return, he pulled away regretfully. He didn't want to push, but the sight of her sprawled beneath him was incredibly tempting. They gave each other a rueful look and then, for some reason, they both broke into almost uncontrollable laughter.

Finally, she looked up at him. "Chemistry? Check and double check."

"No shit," he replied, shaking his head. "Whew..."

They struggled to sit up, getting tangled up in each other but eventually sitting upright. Bella brushed back her hair. "Okay, so obviously we're not going to be one of those 'slow burn' couples."

"Yeah, I think I figured that out for myself," he noted dryly.

"Just so you know, if you'd kept it up we'd be doing it in your bed right now," Bella informed him.

Edward felt his heart clench and his cock...well, the less he thought about that the better. He shot her a grin. "You're wrong, you know."

"Really?" She arched one brow at him.

"We wouldn't have made it that far," he said. "We'd be doing it on this couch right this very minute."

Bella rubbed the seat cushion. "Lucky couch, huh?"

He groaned and flopped against the back of the couch. "You're a terrible, horrible woman." He shrugged. "Must be why I like you so much."

Grinning, she cuddled up against him. "Seriously, I'm not jerking your chain here. I'm not trying to play coy. Obviously, it isn't going to take long for us to play 'you show me yours and I'll show you mine'."

"You have such a way with words, are you sure you weren't an English major?" he teased.

Playfully, she slapped his chest. "Fine, if you don't want to play..."

"Oh no, I'm totally up for a little show and tell," he assured her. "But not tonight, I'm guessing?"

"Probably better not to," Bella agreed, though she sounded reluctant.

"Yeah, sure, that sounds like a totally responsible,_ adult_ plan," Edward murmurmed.

They sat there silently for a moment. "Being a grown-up sucks balls sometimes," Bella noted.

"_Soooo_ not helping."

She surprised him by planting another hot kiss on his mouth. When she took a breath, she whispered, "So why is waiting such a great idea again?"

"Something about...not rushing it or something, I'm sure," he muttered as he kissed up her throat. "Yeah probably something along those lines." And then he nipped at her earlobe and she gave a little yelp and then sighed.

"Sure, being mature, letting things develop naturally," Bella agreed even as she nibbled at the place where his neck met his shoulder.

"If you want to know the truth, I think things are developing pretty naturally just as they are," he panted.

"Aren't mature, responsible people supposed to take it slow?" Bella asked, her lips were slightly swollen and he wanted to bite them. Tenderly of course, but he still wanted to feel their softness between his teeth.

"Technically speaking, we met ten years ago," he blurted out before he could consider the wisdom of such an utterance.

Her eyes went wide. "That's true!" she said. Then she pounced again and he found himself flat on his back, looking up at her. He had no complaints. "Then what the hell are we waiting for?" she muttered as she began unbuttoning his shirt.

**Author's Note: On a totally unrelated matter, some of you might know that I volunteer with Soldiers' Angels, an organization which supports the American armed forces (mostly those deployed) and their families. When I checked this week, they had over 1500 service men and women up for "adoption." If you can help out in any way, even if it's just writing a single letter or card, please think about doing so. You don't have to make the commitment of adoption to make a difference. Their website is soldiersangels (dot) org.**


	8. Chapter 8: Coitus and Confessions

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Author's Note: Thank you for all the love you've been showing my little story!**

**Chapter 8: Coitus and Confessions**

Her fingers were quick and nimble, and it took no time at all for her to shove the offending material out of the way. She straddled him then, letting her eyes roam over the hills and valleys of his chest. Experimentally, she reached out and lightly pinched a nipple. He surged upward, pressing a rather impressive erection into her. "Sensitive," she murmured with a wicked smile. "I like that."

Then she leaned down, her long hair brushing against his flesh, cool silk against fire. Her lips closed over a nipple and she suckled it for a moment before moving on to his other nipple, which received similar treatment. His hands closed over her hips and he pulled her down hard on his groin.

Her lips were at his ear then. "I don't think I'm going to make it to the bed this time, Edward." She nipped at his earlobe. "Would you mind playing the first round here on this lucky, lucky couch?"

Instead of replying with words, he flipped them over so quickly and neatly that she barely had time to yelp her surprise. "It'll do...for starters," he said in a husky voice. "But I might as well warn you, I'm damned greedy for you."

"Right back at ya," Bella assured him.

His green eyes were bright as he pushed and shoved her shirt out of the way. There was less finesse than need in his motions but neither one of them much cared. He groaned when her bra was removed and the flesh he had been fantasizing about was revealed. Hands shaking, he reached for her breasts. They both groaned when he made contact and Bella arched beautifully into his touch.

Her jeans were more of a struggle and he almost dumped Bella on the floor in the process. Luckily, she found it amusing and eventually started to help in the process. At last, they were in a heap on the floor. Her fingers brushed along the waistband of his jeans. "Somebody's wearing way too many clothes," she complained and then tugged at his belt. The sound of the leather sliding through denim belt loops was strangely erotic to him and he felt his cock react like it knew freedom was imminent.

Regretfully, he stood up and thrust his jeans to the floor, making her laugh again at his obvious impatience. "Commando?" Bella said, arching a brow. "Why, Mr. Cullen, I never would have guessed."

He grinned and put one knee on the couch. "You have to watch out for history teachers, we're a sneaky, kinky lot."

"Well," she whispered. "You are my first..." His eyes went wide. "...history teacher." He snorted.

"I know someone else who's sneaky," Edward said.

"As for kinky, you'll have to find out," Bella told him. He lowered himself to her, feeling every delectable bit of her flesh pressed to his. He groaned at the sensation and then groaned for an altogether different reason.

"Fuck," he muttered.

"What?" she asked. "Please don't tell me that you've suddenly realized you're gay...or married?" She was only half-teasing.

"Oh God no," Edward said, nibbling at her earlobe. "I just realized that my condoms are upstairs in my bedroom."

"Oh, well, if that's all," Bella said and wriggled from underneath him. He hissed at the feel of her skin gliding over his. She reached down and plucked up her purse and triumphantly retrieved a condom from within it. "I was a Boy Scout in a previous life or something. Always be prepared."

"I think I love you," Edward declared as he took the condom from her. "Seriously."

"Seriously, get that thing on and get inside of me."

"I_ know_ I love you," he muttered as he rolled the condom down his cock. Her hand closed around him and guided him to her. "Shouldn't we have some...foreplay?" he asked breathlessly, pausing just outside of her though it killed him.

"Honey, I don't know about you, but that whole dinner was foreplay," Bella panted. "Now...please...let's not play coy." And with that, she rolled her hips upward, bringing him just inside of her, just enough for him to feel the tight, slick heat of her.

He answered with a thrust of his own and was buried deep inside of her. Her hands were on his shoulders, her short nails digging into him deliciously. Then her calves were on his upper thighs, pushing him into her, urging him on. "You feel...so...oh God, so good," she whispered into his ear.

Already, he could feel his control getting shakier. He tried to distract himself by thinking of lesson plans and –

"Just go with it, babe," she murmured softly, running her hands down his neck and back. "We'll take it slow next time."

Having been given permission, he let loose. His thrusts became deep and frantic, his hips snapping against her, the slap of flesh on sweaty flesh filling the room. "Fuck," he panted. "Gonna..."

She tightened around him, shattered beneath him and there was nothing he could do but follow her lead. Trembling, shaking, sweaty and spent, he collapsed against her. He tried to put his weight to the side, but wasn't sure if he managed the deed. "I think you killed me," he finally said.

She laughed and he slipped from inside of her.

Tenderly, she brushed her hand over his damp hair and over his still trembling muscles. "Just so you know," she said. "You get an A plus in sexual favors."

"It's been a pleasure to service you," he teased and she gave him a little shove. He fell off the couch and grinned up at her. "Well, it was," he said. "No need to get pushy."

Bella reached down and brushed back his hair. "Listen, if you do survive, I was wondering... Would you be up for another round, maybe in your bed this time?"

He rested his head on the couch with a groan. "Would it make me seem less manly if I said I needed about twenty minutes and some Gatorade first?"

She tilted his head up and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "You stay there, tiger, and I'll go get that Gatorade."

He fell back on the floor. "Much obliged, ma'am."

** ~~AATG~~**

They made it to the bedroom for the second round. Bella made sure he was hydrated and rested and they made good use of another condom, this time one from Edward's stash. "A new box of condoms, huh?" Bella remarked later.

He was still trying to catch his breath. "I think I need to do more cardio at the gym," he observed. Looking at her, he looked like a boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "What can I say? I'm an optimist and I stopped and bought some today."

"I like optimism. I can deal with optimism," Bella told him.

She rested her head on his shoulder and let her fingers run over his chest. "So tell me, how is it that a handsome, intelligent, history teacher like you isn't at least attached to someone?"

"Why isn't a beautiful, smart, determined nurse like you attached to someone?" he returned.

Bella shrugged. "Dunno, just never found someone I wanted to be attached to, I guess."

"Yeah, well...when I was younger, that was pretty much the last thing on my mind. Ellis' death sort of put a damper on my need to party a lot, so I was totally committed to school and then getting a job and then _doing _the job," he said. "And by the time I was starting to think differently, none of the women was right. I couldn't picture myself with them in _two_ years, much less twenty."

She laughed and buried her face in his side. "You seem to forget, Mr. Cullen, that you've already told me you loved me when you discovered that you didn't have to haul your naked ass to your bedroom to get a condom so that you could get some good lovin' from yours truly."

"Well, I'm not taking it back, but you should know I have a tendency to blurt out things like that at the weirdest moments," he admitted.

"No verbal filter?" she guessed.

"Not when I'm nervous, no," he told her.

"Hmmmm...good to know," she said. "I'll just have to keep you off balance when I want to know something."

"You keep me off balance anyway," Edward muttered.

"So here we are, post-coital and delightfully sweaty and sated and yet, I find I_ still_ want to know stuff about you," Bella said. "I find that a rather novel circumstance."

"Back at you."

"So...let's talk," she said. "Dish the dirt on the real Edward Cullen."

"I'm boring," he told her, kissing the tip of her nose.

"Okay, I see I'm going to have to drag this out of you. Let's try this," Bella said thoughtfully. "What's the thing you're most proud of?"

"What?"

"Of everything you've done in life, what're you most proud of?" Bella asked.

He thought about it. "Uh... I don't know." Then he smiled. "Okay a few years ago I had a kid that was really struggling. His parents meant well, I suppose, but this kid just kept falling through the cracks. As long as he was promoted and was staying out of trouble, no one cared to be bothered with him. I found out what interested him, I got him a tutor who was willing to volunteer his time, and a kid who was headed to being a drop-out not only graduated, he's gone on to college. He earned his associates degree from a community college, got good grades, and now he's working for his four-year degree. That made me proud, even though I really didn't do anything. It gave me a real charge to feel like I could actually _do_ something as a teacher."

"You made a difference," Bella said, and he knew she understood.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I guess I did."

"What are you most ashamed of?" she asked.

His expression went still, taking on the classic deer-in-the-headlights look. "Uh...that's...wow, that's...whew..."

"I'll start," Bella offered. She blew out a breath. "The thing I'm most ashamed of in my life is that I got pissed off at my grandmother for getting sick. If she hadn't gotten sick, my mom wouldn't have been on that plane. I didn't want to see her or talk to her or – I forgot that she had lost a daughter, and that's a pain no parent should have to go through. So, to sum it up, I was real shit for a while. There...your turn."

He turned to face her. "Okay...I guess the thing I'm most ashamed of is that I forgot anyone else around me was hurting right after Ellis died. I was too caught up in my own pain to give a damn about anyone else."

"You're right, we were _both_ shits," Bella said.

"Well, I know your lowest moment; why not share your best moment with me?" Edward asked.

She paused. "My very first nursing job was at a rehab facility, you know where patients are taken if their recovery is going to take months or years instead of days or weeks?"

He nodded that he understood.

"And about six months after I started there, this mother and daughter came in. They'd been in a bad car accident," she said softly. "The little girl was only three, and it was really the first time I'd dealt with a critically ill child for any length of time. The father was there every spare moment, sleeping there, trying to be there for both of them. They didn't have any other family, so he was on his own. But he did it and he never complained or seemed to feel sorry for himself. He was all about 'his girls' as he called them. He sort of restored my faith in humanity, and made me feel like I had made the right career choice.

The mom...she only lasted about three months and then just sort of slipped away. She never came out of her coma. But the daughter...well, she fought her way back. She's still fighting actually. But I like to think that I had something to do with that." She smiled and brushed back his head. "She's important to me," Bella said. "You'll meet her...one day."

"You love her," Edward guessed.

Bella hesitated and then nodded. "I do," she admitted. "She's special in every sense of the word. I'm protective of her too, so I tend to go all Mama Bear where she's concerned."

He paused and thought over what she had said. "You were with her today, weren't you?"

"Yes," Bella said quietly.

"Why didn't you just say that?" he wondered. "I wouldn't have minded."

"No, I know," Bella said and she looked up at the ceiling as if seeking guidance. "It's a knee-jerk reaction where's she concerned. She's been through so much in such a short life that I tend to react first and think about it later. I'm not ready to..." She took a deep breath. "I'm just not ready, but when I am, I'll tell you."

"Thank you for telling me that much. It means a lot to me," he said as he brushed a thumb over her lower lip.

"When you meet her, you'll see what I mean," Bella said. "She'll steal your heart like she's stolen mine. And her father...well, he's like the big brother I always wanted." She studied him carefully, tilting her head. "Aren't you going to ask if there's anything between us?"

"I don't figure you for the kind of woman who would be lying naked here with me if there was," Edward said, realizing just how true the words were for him.

For that bit of wisdom, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Then her tongue softly glided across his mouth, asking entrance. He gladly opened his mouth to her, extending his own invitation.

When they stopped to breathe, Edward nuzzled her throat. "You know what?"

"What?"

"This is hands down the best birthday I've ever had," he murmured.

"What the hell?" She sat up, her breasts distracting him for a moment. "Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged and pulled her down into his arms again. "I kind of stopped liking my birthday for a while," he said. And she understood, because his birthday was Ellis' birthday too. "But now...well now, I think it might be my favorite day of the year."

"Let's see if we can close the deal on that thought," she suggested.

"There are worse ways to turn thirty," he agreed and then laughed when she launched herself at him and pinned him to the bed.

"Sneaky history teacher," she accused.

"Kinky nurse," he shot back. "I think I have a fetish now."

"I'm not sure there's a shot for that."

"Don't want to be cured, so that's good," he said.

And the bed was even luckier than the couch.


	9. Chapter 9: Jinxed!

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 9: Jinxed!**

It was a Wednesday afternoon, and Bella and Edward were watching a movie at her place. He was playing idly with her hair while Sebastian snoozed beside him on the couch. The cat had decided that he liked Edward, whether Edward wanted to be liked or not. Luckily, Edward liked animals, though he'd never thought of himself a cat person. Sebastian, apparently, had declared that he was and was set on proving it to Edward.

"Hey, you're not working on the 4th of July are you?" he asked quietly.

Turning from the television, she shook her head. "No, why?" It was one of her first holidays off for the year. Emmett and his daughter had already made plans to be out of town, so she was left on her own. Well, unless she could talk a handsome history teacher into sharing such a historic day with her.

"Well, my family is having a thing on Saturday," he said.

"A thing?" she teased. "What sort of thing?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "A family function, a get-together type _thing_."

"Ohhh..."

"And I'd like it if you went with me," Edward said softly. "I'd like you to meet my parents and my sister."

She smiled widely up at him. "I'd like that," she answered. That was even better than hanging out at her house, or his. She was curious about his family and it was obvious that he was very close to them.

He shot her a relieved grin and nodded. "Good, good, then it's a date."

With a sigh, she snuggled up against him. "You're too cute when you're nervous, Mr. Cullen."

"And you're adorable when you're being a pain in the ass, Nurse Swan," he returned.

He allowed his hand to travel up from her arm to her neck, where he moved her hair out of the way and began kissing up her neck. "I thought we were watching _Shaun of the Dead,_" she murmured.

"Hmmm...cinematic history, no doubt," he whispered as his teeth worried her earlobe.

Bella flung her head back. "Simon Pegg...the man's a genius," she muttered as his fingers found her breast and began circling her nipple. "Oh God..."

"Of course," he whispered against her collarbone. "I also really liked him in _Run, Fat Boy Run_..."

Her hands came up to grip his hair and she moved him toward her breasts. Sebastian gave a little meow of discontent when they inadvertently shoved him off the couch and took up a perch on the chair beside them. He blinked at them and Edward had to turn his back on the feline.

"Your cat knows I'm going to do lewd and nasty things to your body," he whispered.

"He'll get over it," Bella promised.

He laughed then and began kissing a warm trail down her body. He pushed her tee-shirt out of the way and then shoved her shorts and panties down to get to his goal. When his tongue first swiped against her, she gave a little moan and buried her fingers in his hair. "...you're pretty much a genius yourself, Mr. Cullen..."

**~~AATG~~**

"Did you hear from Edward yet?" Rose asked her mother.

"You mean about him bringing Bella on Saturday?" Esme asked casually. "Why yes, I believe he mentioned it."

"I'm surprised you're not out looking at wedding invitations," Rose teased.

Esme sighed dramatically. "Honestly, I'm in no hurry to get you or your brother married off and reproducing."

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Rose sang out.

"Think what you like," her mother said.

"Well, you'd better hope that Eddie is serious about this one, because I'm not settling down for ages and ages," Rose assured her mother. "He's your only hope at this point."

Esme began laughing. "Oh, dear, I think you've just jinxed yourself."

"What? No way," Rose protested. "Besides, I never meet anyone I'd want to spend more than an hour with, and I'm pretty sure that extended periods of togetherness is part of marriage - unfortunately."

"All right then," Esme soothed. "You just go on thinking that, and then when you least expect it, there he'll be and you'll be the one looking at wedding invitations."

Rose snorted. "As if."

"Don't you want kids?" Esme pushed.

"Sure I do," Rose replied. "But the last I checked, I didn't need to be married for that." She grinned cheekily. "See, there's a special part on a man and he puts it into-"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that, young lady," her mother interrupted. "In fact, I'm going to continue to pretend that neither you nor your brother has ever,_ ever_ had sex."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Mom."

**~~AATG~~**

Bella had expected to be nervous at the thought of meeting Edward's family. However, his descriptions of them had been so overwhelmingly positive and warm that what she mostly felt was a keen sense of anticipation. She wanted to get a look at the people who had been a huge part of his life. Everything thus far had been effortless with them, and they had slid into a relationship so easily that at times, she felt as if the world _had_ to come crumbling down. Then her natural optimism would shut out the negative voices and she would relax. Sometimes fate kicked you in the teeth, that was true, but sometimes it gave you something wonderful. If you had to take the bad, you might as well enjoy the good.

They pulled up into a long driveway that led to a house that couldn't be described as a mansion, but it wasn't the run-of-the-mill suburban ranch house either. It was large and sprawling and somehow inviting, even from the outside. Edward stopped the car and turned off the engine. He pointed to a tree to Bella's left, almost hidden from view. "See that tree?"

She nodded.

"My dad helped Ellis and I build a tree house in that tree," he explained with a smile. "We used to drive Rosie crazy by pulling up the rope ladder and telling her that girls weren't allowed." He chuckled. "She would stand at the foot of the tree and howl about it for hours."

Bella snickered, imagining how much of a trial twin older brothers must have been to their sister. Then she studied the tree. "Where's the tree house now?"

Edward shrugged and looked sad. "After the crash, I went a little crazy one day and ripped it to shreds."

Instead of giving him sympathy or pity, Bella just quirked one brow at him and smiled crookedly. "You went Hulk on its ass then?"

He grinned. "Yeah, I went Hulk – turned green and everything."

She licked her lips. "Uh...actually, I find that kind of sexy."

"Good to know," he whispered and kissed her. "Now, let's get inside before my mother uses up her very small quota of patience and drags us inside."

He got out of the car and walked around to open her door, a move that never failed to charm her. They were holding hands as they walked in the front door. "Mom! We're here!" he called out and an attractive older woman immediately popped out from a doorway.

"Oh, there you are!" she said, wiping her hands on a dish towel. "I was beginning to wonder if you had scared her off." She gave Bella a swift hug and then stood back to study her. "You're even prettier than he described."

"I see where he gets his charm then," Bella teased.

"Oh, I like her," Esme said. "Come on in, Carlisle's at the grill. He's probably cursing, just to warn you. He thinks he's the grill master of the universe and none of us have the heart to tell him otherwise."

"Male egos are such fragile things," Bella confided in a loud whisper.

Esme laughed and nodded. "You do understand."

"Hey! Did I hear my annoying older brother out there?" a feminine voice called.

A moment later, a stunning blond was gliding toward them. First she hugged and kissed Edward and then she hugged Bella. The Cullens, Bella decided, were obviously huggers. "Well now, it's certainly nice to put a face with the name I've been hearing so much about from my brother."

"And you're the infamous little sister who kicks his ass when needed?" Bella asked.

Rose beamed. "That would be me! One ass kicker extraordinaire, just ask Edward's ass."

Bella snorted with laughter. "Please don't bruise it; I'm rather attached to its current condition."

Even his mother laughed at that one, and he could tell the moment Bella realized that she'd just said something kind of dirty in front of his mother. Esme patted Bella's arm. "Don't worry, dear. I raised them. I know what they're like."

"Yeah but..." Bella bit her lip and then broke into laughter. "Oh hell, you might as well know that I'm no better. I tried putting on my company manners, but obviously that didn't last too long."

Rose took her by the arm and began leading her outside. "I can already tell that you and I are going to get along just fine. And just so you know, I'm perfectly happy to share ass kicking duties. It'll give my foot a rest."

"Team work, it's what keeps America strong," Bella confided.

Edward watched them walk away and then turned to find his mother smiling at him. "She's something else, isn't she?" he asked.

"She most definitely is, Edward. I'm so glad you brought her home for us to meet."

**~~AATG~~**

Carlisle and Edward were discussing some changes that were coming for him in the new school year. Esme was in the kitchen getting the dessert together, having declined any offers of help. So Rose and Bella were left to their own devices, which suited them perfectly.

"Okay, so Edward told me you're a nurse," Rose said. "You work in the ER, right?"

Bella nodded and swallowed her last bite of cheeseburger. "It's great, and yeah it sucks sometimes too, but mostly I love it. I love the fast pace; I love the fact that no two shifts are the same. It's exciting. I guess the only downfall is that I don't really get a chance to connect with my patients because of the setting, but all in all, I'd say it suits me perfectly right now."

"Edward said you worked at a rehab facility before this job?" Rose seemed genuinely interested and Bella was happy to oblige. She loved her job, and it was a big part of her life.

"Yeah, it was rewarding too, in a totally different way, but it was just too much emotionally after a while. It wore me down. Mostly what you see are the hopeless cases, the ones that really aren't going to get better. There are success stories, of course, but more often than not, there's no happy ending for anyone."

"I don't know how you do it," Rose said, shaking her head. "I thought my job was depressing sometimes, but even the bad spots are few and far between. So mostly, I get a charge out of it."

"Your brother neglected to tell me what you do," Bella said, grabbing a few more chips.

"Just like a man," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Well, I work for a non-profit organization that matches up at-risk kids with mentors. Sort of like a local Big Brother type thing. I secure funding, which means I make grown men cry and open up their wallets. I visit schools and make sure that teachers and staff are looking for the kind of kids that would benefit from our program. I find places for our kids to hang out and be safe, stuff like that."

"Very cool," Bella said. She looked at Edward, deep in discussion with his father. Edward must have sensed her gaze, because he looked up and gave her a quick smile. "It seems like your whole family is into giving back in way or another."'

Rose shrugged. "We just kind of grew up that way," she said. "When we were little, there were always service days at schools or church. We volunteered at summer camps when we were teenagers, that sort of thing. Then after we lost Ellis, we stopped for a while, but the past several years I think we all realized that Ellis wouldn't have wanted that. So..." She smiled. "That's one of the reasons I love my job. It's very rewarding to go to work every day and feel like what I'm doing is making a difference." Rose nodded her head toward Edward. "That's what he does in his classroom. That's what you do as a nurse. So I think you can understand exactly where I'm coming from."

Bella nodded. Then she looked thoughtful. "So, uhm, are you dating anyone?"

"Well usually I don't date women, but you're pretty cute so I might give it a shot," Rose teased.

Bella looked up with wide eyes and then noticed the laughter in Rose's expression. "So not cool, to scare me like that. And all I could think was won't that be like incest?"

Rose laughed. "I like you."

"Well, I like you too, but not enough to date you. I don't roll that way, though like you said, you're pretty good looking so..."

"Why were you asking?"

Bella leaned in. "Are you opposed to dating someone with a child?"

"Is this child a criminal?" Rose asked.

Bella grinned. "No, she's an adorable six-year old."

"No history of setting fires or stealing cars?" Rose pushed with a wink.

"Not so far, but she's young. There's always hope," Bella replied. Then her expression grew more serious. "But I do have to tell you, this little girl? She's special. She's been through a lot and still has a lot more to go through. I won't tell you everything, because I think Emmett could explain it better than me."

"Emmett?"

"Emmett's her father," Bella said.

"Divorced?"

"His wife died in a car accident three years ago," Bella replied. "And he's as great as his little girl is – just a real teddy bear if you know what I mean."

"And you're telling me this why?" Rose seemed amused.

"Well, I'd like to give him your number," Bella said matter-of-factly. "I have this feeling that the two of you would get along just great. I don't normally play matchmaker, but I just have this gut feeling about you two." She shrugged. "Which is really weird because I just don't-"

Esme walked out at the moment, bearing a huge chocolate cake. "Dessert anyone?" she asked.

Rose looked at her mother for a moment and then groaned. Bella gave her a curious look and Rose shook her head. "I think my mother jinxed me," she said enigmatically. "Balls..."


	10. Chapter 10: Island Encounter

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 10: Island Encounter**

"No," said Emmett, and though his voice was quiet, he couldn't have made himself clearer if he had been shouting.

"Why not?" Bella asked.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm not looking for a date," he explained.

"You don't have to look for one," Bella replied. "I already found one for you."

"I'm not dating anyone right now," he added, clenching his jaw. "Don't you think I've got enough on my plate?"

"I think you've got plenty on your plate and that maybe you should try a little dessert to liven things up," Bella shot back. "You're a young, good-looking guy Emmett. You've got a lot to offer a woman – including that amazing little girl."

"I don't want to date – _anyone_," Emmett said. "Have I made myself clear?"

Bella studied him for a moment. "Okay, fine. No dating. But I would still like for the two of you to meet Edward and his family. No whining, no bitching – and I promise to be upfront and tell you that Rosalie is going to be there. I'll make it clear to her that you are _not_ interested in dating and that we'll all be meeting on a strictly friendship basis." Then she grinned wickedly. "Well, except for Edward and me because we're humping like bunnies."

Emmett put his hands over his ears and shook his head. "Don't need to know this. Don't need to know this," he sang. "Don't _want_ to know this..."

She waited for him to settle down.

Finally, he sighed and stared morosely at the table. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"What? A social connection beyond this house for you and the best little girl in the world? No, I'm not. The two of you need to branch out a bit, get your asses out of this house. Not just out of town where no one knows you, but actually connect with other people, damn it. But your dating life is yours to handle. I just met someone I thought would be _perfect_ for you, for both of you, but whatever..." She shrugged. "Be stubborn, see if I care. But I would still like for you to get to know Edward. He's important to me, very important. And so are you, in a different way. A non-sexual, non-humping like bunnies kind of way."

"Oh my God, you're so annoying," Emmett snapped, but there was a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I know," Bella said breezily. "It's really part of my charm, don't you think?"

** ~~AATG~~**

Edward stopped in the doorway of the kitchen. Bella was leaning over the island counter, intently studying a recipe book. They liked to get together and cook dinner once a week. They'd flip through his many recipe books, both old and new, and pick something the day before. Then he or she would make sure they had all the ingredients and prepare the meal the following night.

Bella liked to study the recipe before hand; Edward preferred to take each step as it came. Mostly, he liked watching _her_. Being with her had fast become his favorite pastime.

Walking up quietly behind her, he put his arms on either side of her, effectively trapping her against the island. She jumped a little and then relaxed back against him. "Mmm...you smell good," she said.

He had just showered, having spent the day doing yard work.

Edward let his nose travel up her throat and then buried it in her hair. "You do too." He kissed her temple before moving down her cheek. "But then, you always do." She obligingly turned so that her mouth was within his reach. Their lips met softly, gently but soon that wasn't enough and she turned completely in his embrace so that her breasts were pressing against his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, he hauled her up against him.

"I missed you today," he finally muttered as he kissed down her neck and along the bit of collarbone exposed by her shirt.

Her fingers were in his hair, keeping his head – his mouth – close to her. _His_ hands were traveling up her leg and then skimming the low waist of her short denim skirt, before dipping down between her legs. Making a pass between her thighs, he groaned. "You're already wet for me, Bella."

She laughed and cradled his erection. "Look who's talking, Mr. Cullen..."

He rocked his hips against her touch and then lifted her suddenly, planting her ass on the counter and shoving the recipe book out of the way. Giving her a wicked look, he reached beneath her skirt and tugged at her panties. She obliged him by lifting her ass a bit and he wriggled them off her body and then twirled them around his finger for a moment. Grinning, he tucked them into his pocket. "Mine," he whispered.

Her hands were already at his jeans then, and unbuttoning them at a frantic rate. Then their hands were all over each other's bodies, frantically moving clothing out of the way and teasing as they went. "Condom?" Bella finally panted.

To her surprise, Edward reached into a drawer in the island and withdrew a packet with a little smirk. "Nicely played," she complimented.

Edward palmed his cock and handed her the packet. "Will you?" he asked, his voice husky and tense.

Biting her lip, she nodded eagerly and moment later she rolling it down his length before pausing briefly to cup his balls. "Uh," he grunted and then he spread her thighs almost roughly and plunged inside of her with a moan.

"Fuck yes," she hissed her approval.

"Hold on," he warned.

It was fast and rough and exactly what she needed, so she encouraged his efforts. "Feels so good," she told him and licked up his neck.

"So hot," he muttered and his eyes locked on the sight of their joined bodies. "So fucking beautiful..."

"Gonna..." she panted. Then she tightened around him and he gave a shout. When he felt he could move without collapsing, he took a deep breath.

"Holy shit," he said. His expression growing more somber, he cupped her face in his hands. "You're so amazing," he said. "And perfect." She smiled slowly.

"_We're_ perfect," she corrected quietly.

They embraced, her sitting with her bare ass on the kitchen island, his dick covered in a fluorescent blue condom that he'd bought for shits and giggles, his jeans hobbling his ankles. She grimaced. "I think I have a mixing spoon up my ass," she remarked.

He laughed and kissed her – hard.

And it was one of the most romantic moments of his life.

** ~~AATG~~**

"Rose, you should know a few things before you meet Emmett and his daughter," Bella said. "I've already explained some of this to Edward. Emmett will tell you his own story, but you need to be...prepared."

Rose swallowed hard and nodded.

"The accident that killed Emmett's wife and injured his daughter was obviously very serious," Bella said. "And his little girl, she's still recovering."

"Was there brain damage?" Rose asked.

Bella hesitated. "Short term damage - yes. She had to learn to walk and talk all over again, but mentally, she's fully functioning and pretty much on age level with her thinking and reasoning skills. Any delays she has are a result of extended hospital stays and numerous surgeries – which lead to significant recovery times. That's one of the reasons Emmett decided to homeschool her for a while."

"He teaches her at home?" Rose asked and for some reason, her expression went soft. She almost glowed.

"Uh, yeah," Bella said uncertainly, giving Rose an odd look. "But the other reason he's homeschooling her is that she's still undergoing reconstructive surgeries right now."

"Reconstructive?" Rose asked.

"There's scarring," Bella explained. "A lot of it, and there was a lot of damage to her face."

"That poor baby," Rose whispered.

Bella let out a heavy sigh. "I knew you were perfect for him." Then she smiled. "Honestly, it isn't so bad now. She'll still have some more surgeries in the future, but things are way better now than they were a few years ago. It's obvious something happened to her, but people mostly just stare now. They used to look away, and that killed Emmett."

"I won't look away," Rose promised. "And I won't stare either."

Bella squeezed Rose's hand. "I know you won't," she said. "Listen, I know I warned you that Emmett says that he isn't ready to date or anything. But if you could just be his friend, I think you'd realize just how much he needs someone like you in his life. They've been really isolated and I think it's time for them both to branch out a bit. I've been with them since the beginning, but they both need to get out there and be with other people."

"I can be his friend," Rose promised. "And I can be her friend."

Bella turned to Edward. "You've got a pretty awesome sister you know."

Edward groaned and shook his head. "Please don't tell her that. She's already impossible to live with!"

** ~~AATG~~**

It was August and Bella had accompanied Edward to his new classroom. There were no students at the school yet, but teachers had started arriving today. Edward had been assigned to a new classroom, which pleased him. His last classroom had been a portable, but he finally had enough seniority to rate a room in the main school building.

She was helping him put up a few posters and rearranging the desks. Edward liked them in a circle. "You like being on stage, huh?" she teased.

Edward laughed and pulled her into his arms. "Actually, I tend to talk with my hands a lot, so it _is_ kind of like a performance. I really get into it sometimes. Besides, this is a very interactive class. They won't be sitting all period."

She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a quick hug. "Do your female students ever develop a crush on you?" Bella looked up and noticed that Edward was blushing.

"It's been known to happen on occasion," he allowed carefully.

She snorted and shook her head. "I'm sure it happens with great frequency," she said. "You're gorgeous and young and I'll bet you're a fantastic teacher – the kind the kids talk about being their favorite."

"Hush now, you'll make me blush." Then he grinned. "Oh right, too late."

"It's kind of sexy," she assured him.

"Well, I plan on making you blush when I get you to my house later today," he whispered in her ear. "You've been a very naughty girl and I just might have to punish you." To his delighted surprise, Bella liked to role play, and she was definitely hot for teacher. All he had to do was put on his glasses and a tie and look stern. She took over from there. It was one of their favorite games.

"Oh...you're right, I've been very, very bad," she murmured.

"Oh, I didn't know you were here," a voice called from the doorway. Edward let loose a little groan in Bella's ear, too quiet for anyone else to hear. Then he pulled away and looked toward the door.

"Yes, just getting things set up for the year," Edward explained. "Danielle, this is my girlfriend, Bella. Bella, this is Danielle Wickham. She teaches English." The two women eyed each other; there was curiosity on Bella's part and something else in Danielle's eyes. Shock? Jealousy? Bella decided it could be both. She glanced at Edward to see if he recognized the fact that Danielle Wickham was very, very interested in him. It took only one look to see that he did, and it took Bella only another moment to realize that he had never returned that interest. Then she decided that the look on Danielle's face had simply been hurt. Hurt was an emotion Bella knew well.

"Hi, Danielle," Bella said politely, holding out her hand to the woman who had approached them. "It's very nice to meet you."

Danielle's smile flickered uncertainly, as if she wasn't quite sure what to make of Bella's unexpected display of kindness. "Uh...yes, same to you," Danielle replied. Her eyes flickered to Edward. "I didn't know you had a girlfriend," she said quietly.

Edward pulled Bella up against his side. "Well, it happened over the summer and I haven't seen you in a while."

"Oh, of course." Danielle shifted on her feet.

Bella patted Edward on the stomach. "This guy here, he works slowly. _Very_ careful, this one," she confided. "We met ten years ago, and it took him that long to ask me out."

Something in Danielle's expression eased and Bella guessed that the other woman was now thinking that they had a long-standing friendship that had finally bloomed into something more. And Danielle found that easier to accept for some reason. Bella and Danielle looked at each other again and this time Danielle's smile was more sincere. "Well, I'm happy to see he finally worked up his courage and asked you out."

"Me too," Bella said with a nod. On impulse, she opened her mouth and was saying something she hadn't expected to say. She had, as she had noted on many occasions, poor impulse control at times. "Listen sometimes I have these barbeques and I have some friends visit from my hometown. Maybe you'd join us sometimes? They're a great bunch of people and I think...I think you'd like them."

Danielle blinked at the unexpected invitation. Edward just gaped at her. Bella merely waited for an answer. "Uh...sure...just have Edward tell me when," Danielle finally answered uncertainly.

Bella pulled out her phone. "Why not just give me your number and I'll let you know myself?" she offered.

A few minutes later, after Danielle left, Edward turned and studied her. "What was that all about?"

"What?"

"That – with Danielle. One moment I thought it was going to be a cage match and the next... you two are exchanging numbers and talking about getting together!"

Bella smiled and slid into his embrace. "She likes you, a lot. And I'm guessing she has for a while. But you're taken now, and you're _staying_ taken." She lightly poked his chest. "I decided it would be easier to give her someone else to think about rather than getting jealous and bitchy."

"Oh..." Edward kissed her forehead. "But you know, it would have been really _hot_ to have two women fight over me. Maybe in Jello? Or mud? Maybe topless? Just saying..."

**~~AATG~~**

"Do I look alright?" Rose asked for the tenth time. They were waiting for Emmett to arrive. It had taken more than a month to arrange the little dinner for Emmett and Rose to meet, and the time had worn on Rosalie's nerves.

"You look beautiful," Edward assured her. Bella nodded.

"He's right, you're hot," Bella said. "I'd do you."

Edward just groaned and shook his head. He leaned in and whispered to Bella. "I don't think I've ever actually seen Rose nervous. This is huge. I might have to start keeping a journal just so I can write this down."

"What? You mean you don't keep a written log of our sexual escapades?" Bella whispered back. "I'm disappointed."

"I'll start keeping track," he promised. "Then I could sell it to some shady publishing house and make dozens of dollars."

Then the door bell rang and Rose hopped to her feet so quickly that she almost fell over. Edward steadied her in surprise. "What the hell, Rosie?"

"Just shut up," Rose hissed.

Edward held his hands up and backed away. "Yes ma'am."

He heard Bella's voice and then a much deeper voice. When the guy walked in at Bella's side, Edward swallowed hard. His girlfriend had failed to mention that Emmett McCarty was absolutely huge. He towered a good three or four inches over Edward's own 6'2" and he was built solid – kind of like a truck or a building.

In the giant's arms was a tiny little dark-haired girl, her face hidden in her father's shoulder. Bella did the introductions. "Emmett? This is Edward Cullen," she started and Edward took the man's free hand. It was like grabbing a baseball glove.

"Glad to meet you, Edward," Emmett rumbled. "Bella tells me lots of good things about you."

"And this is Rosalie Cullen," Bella continued. "Edward's sister."

Emmett blinked for a moment, obviously stunned when Rose turned the full force of her bright green eyes and blinding smile on him. Bella knew the feeling, having experienced it first hand from Edward. "Hi, Emmett," Rose replied with surprising calm. Then she smiled at the little girl. "And you must be Mary Alice," she said.

The little girl turned, her eyes large and dark and solemn. The left side of her face was delicate perfection; but the right side was marred by a long, twisted scar that ran from beneath her dark hair to her jaw. Her eye socket looked oddly sunken in. She looked up at her father, a flash of dark, wise eyes. Emmett smiled at her encouragingly.

"Alice," the little girl. "Daddy calls me Alice."

"Well Alice, I've waited a long time to meet you," Rose said.


	11. Chapter 11: Mr Cullen's Confession

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 11: Mr. Cullen's Confession**

Bella and Edward were in bed on a lazy Sunday afternoon. She would have to go to work later, but for the next few hours she could lie in bed with her man and enjoy it. And that, she mused, was exactly what she intended to do. Running her hands through the light dusting of chest hair, she idly explored the crests and valleys of his body, relishing the way his muscles danced under her touch.

When she plucked at a nipple, he grabbed her hand and pressed it against him, effectively stopping her torment. "Why don't you get a few hours of sleep before you have to go to work?" he suggested.

Shrugging, she began kissing a trail from his clavicle down to his pecs and then started to move lower. "Bella..." he warned in a taut, husky voice.

She blinked up at him, her expression innocent, and her eyes like sin. "What?" she asked.

"You keep doing that and I'm going to wear you out before you go to work, and then you'll be cranky your whole shift and Ang will call me and give me shit for it," he grumbled.

Bella moved so that she was straddling him. "I'll tell her that I'm having a hot affair with some other guy and that you, Mr. Cullen, are completely blameless for my sated but exhausted state."

His lips twitched as he stared up at her. Then something else began twitching. She grinned down at him.

"I _thought _I could make you see reason," she teased and began slowly rocking on top of him, which wasn't helping matters at all. Or maybe, he thought, it was moving things along to exactly where he wanted them to be.

He groaned as she slid against him in just the right way as she leaned over toward the bedside table. She held up the small foil packet and arched one brow at him. He took from her and stared it for a minute. "Hey," he said softly, tugging at a strand of her long hair. "What would you think about us...not using condoms sometime?"

Leaning down, she pressed her breasts to his chest and planted a hot, wet kiss on him. "I'd say you're a genius, that's what I'd say."

"Really?" He pushed her up slightly so he could look at her. "I got tested about six months ago and there hasn't been anyone since then," he offered.

"Same here, but I got tested just before I met you when I had some other blood work done," Bella replied. "And you know that I'm covered on birth control."

He settled his hands on her hips. "So...you'd trust me?"

"Do you trust me?" Bella said with a little half smile.

For an answer, he tossed the condom to the floor and put his hand between her legs. After stroking her for a few moments, he lifted her hips and pressed the tip of his dick to slick heat. He gave her one questioning look and she lowered herself onto him with a groan. "Fuuuccckkkk..." he muttered.

Then he flipped them over so that he was looming above her and his cock was pounding into her, his expression taut and primal. "Oh God," he said, closing his eyes. He was about to apologize for his imminent orgasm, when she tightened around him and he realized no apology was necessary.

**~~AATG~~**

Bella pulled her hair back into a pony tail and tucked her stethoscope into her scrub pocket. Edward was sitting on the couch, watching the opening credits roll on the television for a movie. She leaned down and kissed him. "What is it today?"

"Edward Scissorhands," he replied and lifted his fingers to wriggle them.

"You look like a Freddy Krueger wannabe," she teased. She brushed back his hair. "What would you think about me having a little barbeque next weekend?"

"Sounds good," he said. He tugged at her hand and she ended up sprawled in his lap. "Will this barbeque include you and I having lots of hot monkey sex?"

"It could," she answered. "But we probably should wait until after the guests leave."

"Probably," he agreed, kissing her.

"You excited about tomorrow?" she asked. Tomorrow would be Edward's first day back at work with his new students.

"Gee, Mom, I'm super excited about the first day of school," he mocked. "I just hope the other kids like me and no one steals my lunch money."

"Smart ass," she accused. She gave his hair a sharp little tug.

"Ouch," he said, rubbing at his scalp.

"I'm going to invite Danielle if the guys from the Res can come," she said.

Edward arched one brow. "So I finally get to meet the infamous pack of males that wrestled with you?"

"Why? Jealous?" she asked.

"Nope," he told her, kissing the tip of her nose. "I've got you now, and possession is nine-tenths of the law."

"I didn't know you went to law school."

"I'm a man of many hidden talents," he explained loftily.

"Yes, well, I'm glad to know that I'm your possession," she said solemnly.

"Hey, you know I don't-" he began.

Bella laughed. "God, you're so gullible," she said. "So...barbeque?"

"Yes, barbeque."

"Good," she said and slipped off his lap, ignoring his pout.

"You going home to crash after work?"

"Yeah, I'll need to collapse, and besides, Sebastian is about ready to claw me to death in my sleep," she explained.

"You should bring him with you when you spend the night," Edward said.

Bella stopped and tilted her head to study him. "Really?"

Shrugging, Edward got to his feet. "Yeah, I mean, I can just keep some stuff for him here. That way you won't have to hurry off or anything. He can hang out with me sometimes."

Her kiss took him by surprise as did her tender caress. "You're one of the good ones, Edward Cullen," she said softly. Then she was gone, and he was left to ponder the mysteries of women.

**~~AATG~~**

"Wait, what?" Emmett asked.

Rose sighed and gave Alice a look that seemed to say, "_Men...what are you gonna do?"_

She took the little girl's hand. "I'd like to take Alice out shopping. You know, a girls' day out."

"Alice doesn't like shopping," Emmett said.

"Yes I do," Alice chimed in.

He looked at her in astonishment. "Since when?"

"Since Miss Rose said she'd take me," Alice explained.

"See?" Rose said.

Emmett rubbed his hands over his face. "Why do you want to take her shopping?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Like I said, a girls' day."

"Yeah, Dad," Alice insisted. "Girls' day. Me and Miss Rose are both girls and we're going out." She gave an emphatic nod.

Emmett just stared at the pair in confusion. In the little more than a week since they'd met, Rose had been dropping by most evenings and entertaining Alice while Emmett got some work done. He was lucky in that most of his work could be done from home, but it was nice not to have to feel guilty that Alice was being neglected. He had expected Rosalie to be pushy and try to get his attention. But it had become increasingly clear that she was more than willing to honor his wish not to date and was just completely entranced with his little girl.

Emmett couldn't decide if he was relieved...or insulted.

"Uh...okay, I guess," he finally said. He looked at Alice. "Go brush your hair and teeth and put on some clean jeans," he said.

Alice happily scampered off to do his bidding and Emmett turned to Rose. "Just kind of watch that no one makes her feel...uncomfortable. You know, with the staring."

"I wouldn't," she promised. She put a gentle hand on his arm. "Honestly, Emmett, people don't notice as much as you think they do. And Alice is a lot stronger than you think." She smiled widely. "She's one kick ass kid, if you want to know the truth."

He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, she is, but I worry."

"That's your job," Rosalie said. "And you do it extremely well," she teased softly.

**~~AATG~~**

Alice had begun talking the moment she and Rose walked in the door and she was still talking as Emmett began making a dinner of omelets and bacon for the three of them.

"And we gotted our nails painted," Alice said, wriggling her little fingers in the air. "We got the same color. Doesn't it look nice, Daddy?"

"Yeah, baby, looks great," he agreed. Alice hadn't stopped talking since Rose brought her home. He had expected her to be exhausted, but she only seemed to have been energized by the whole experience.

"Miss Rose told me that I had the prettiest hair she'd ever seen and I told her that I had hair just like Mommy. Isn't that true, Daddy?"

"Yes, baby, it's true," he agreed and shot a look at Rose.

"And Miss Rose said she's gonna take me shopping again and we're gonna get our nails done again, but only this time in a different color and she said I could get my hair cut if I wanted but I'm not sure I want to do that and she already said I had pretty hair so why would I want to cut it but it might look good so I don't know and I was wondering why you don't come shopping with us one day and it could be a girls' and boy's day out and we could eat lunch there and-"

"Whoa, slow down," Emmett said, holding up his hands. "Take a breath, Mary Alice."

Alice wriggled in her seat. "I'm just happy, Daddy, and I don't need to take a breath when I'm happy."

** ~~AATG~~**

Bella and Edward were putting together the finishing touches for the barbeque. Their guests would be arriving soon and the only thing left was to placate Sebastian, who didn't like all of the activity. Edward decided to bribe the cat with a can of tuna. He and Sebastian often offered each other commiseration as males. Since Bella seemed to own them both, Edward thought it was only appropriate.

"Okay," she said. "I think we're ready."

She had been working on the ribs for most of the day and they would be ready to put on the grill soon. Edward felt his mouth begin to water. He watched her as she rushed around, anxious to make the guests feel welcomed. Suddenly, he grabbed her, right there in the middle of the kitchen. "You're incredibly beautiful," he whispered. His lips went to her ear. "And I love you."

He heard her breath catch and she seemed to be about to say something in return, but the doorbell rang and then the door opened and it was clear that her childhood friends had arrived because they let themselves in with a boisterous rush of noise and a moment later she was being hugged to death by four burly guys.

The tallest of the group held out his hand. "Hi," he said. "I'm Jake. And I've heard good things about you." There was honest approval in Jake's dark eyes and Edward felt himself relaxing.

"Thanks," Edward said. "Right back at you."

Then Emmett and Rose and Alice arrived and Danielle was just a few moments behind them and Bella's attention was no longer solely on him. He smiled as he watched her, so at ease and gracious that even Danielle was smiling and laughing and enjoying a beer as she sat next to one of Jake's friends. Bella came to sit down beside him and nudged him, glancing toward Danielle.

"Can you believe it?" she whispered.

"What?"

Bella grinned. "Well, out of all the guys I invited from LaPush, she's picked out the one I would have been least likely to choose for her."

Edward glanced at them. "They seem to be getting along just fine."

"Yeah," Bella agreed hesitantly. She grimaced. "But really..._Paul_?"

"What's wrong with Paul?" Edward asked quietly.

"He's just...Paul," Bella explained.

"Oh well, now that clears it up," he said.

She shrugged and opened up another beer. "Oh, and one more thing, Mr. Cullen," she said casually. "I love you too." She jumped to her feet and almost skipped away before he could close his mouth.


	12. Chapter 12: Anxious and Amorous

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 12: Anxious and Amorous**

Bella leaned against the door with a sigh. The last guest had left and as much as she had enjoyed having everyone over, she was just as glad that they were gone. The La Push boys were staying in a hotel, at their insistence, and making a day of it in Seattle tomorrow. Bella had been secretly relieved that she wouldn't have four huge houseguests. Just the thought of feeding them made her shudder.

Besides, she thought as she watched Edward wandering around and picking up cups and napkins, she had someone else in mind for a sleep over.

She walked up behind him and put her arms around him. As he always did, he dropped whatever he was doing and returned the embrace. That was just one of the things she loved about him, his easy affection. She stood on her toes and tried to place a kiss on his very kissable lips. To her shock, he pulled away and shook his head.

"Oh no," he told her, shaking a finger at her. "No kissing until you explain your little off-the-cuff remark about returning some feelings I expressed to you earlier."

Making a pouting face, she gazed up at him. "What?"

"You know what," he murmured, placing his lips just at the corner of hers. Apparently, _that_ didn't count as kissing – at least in Mr. Cullen's world.

"You mean when I said I wanted another beer?" she teased, whispering in his ear.

He nipped at her earlobe in retaliation. "Nope."

"Uh...when I said I was feeling full?" she guessed.

"Keep trying," he told her. "You're not even getting warmer."

"Hmmm..." she said. "I guess I'll just have to turn my formidable intellect to the problem."

"I guess you will," he advised. His lips trailed up her throat.

"I thought we weren't kissing," she reminded him.

"This isn't kissing," he told her.

"Then what is it?"

"It's caressing your throat with my lips," he replied, his breath warm against her skin.

"Feels like kissing," she countered.

His mouth moved up her throat and grazed her ear, only to settle over her lips. His tongue teased for a moment and then slid in, hot and demanding. With a groan, she opened her mouth more fully and their tongues slid and danced along each other. Finally, he pulled away. "_That_ is a kiss," he said in a husky voice.

"I'm not quite sure I got that," Bella said. "I might need another demonstration."

Edward gave a long suffering sigh. "If I must, I must." Then his mouth was on hers again and he hauled her up against him, his hands on her ass and pressing her close to him.

Together, they fell to the couch which just happened to be handy. He cushioned her fall and made sure he didn't fall on top of her, bracing his weight with his arms. He brushed his thumb along her lip. "Did you mean it?" he asked in a hoarse tone.

"Do you think I'm the type of person who would lie about something like that?" she asked with a smile.

Immediately, he shook his head. "No, but..." He shook his head again.

"What is it?"

"Never mind," he said and moved to kiss her again. This time, she was the one who denied him.

"What?" she prodded gently.

His eyes skittered away from hers for a moment and then returned, bright green and seeming to see through to her soul. "Have you ever wanted something so badly that you're sure you'll never, _ever_ get it because no person on earth can be that lucky?" he asked quietly. "Well, that's how I feel about you loving me."

"Oh wow," she breathed. "That's a pretty good what, Mr. Cullen."

He grinned at her, obviously relieved. Leaning down, he kissed her loudly. When he lifted his head, Sebastian had perched on the back of the couch and was staring at him without blinking.

"Your cat's a voyeur," he told her.

"Yeah, he gets his rocks off by watching," Bella agreed.

"You like to watch?" he teased.

"I've been known to have a little voyeuristic streak myself," she admitted with a wink. "I like to watch you in the mirror on your dresser," she elaborated. "I like to watch your muscles when you're moving inside of me. It turns me on. Especially your ass," she added as she licked up his throat.

"My girl likes a little kink, huh?" he asked.

"Just a little," she said softly, bringing him closer for a kiss. "Just enough to spice things up a bit."

**~~AATG~~**

."

Bella's birthday was tomorrow and Edward was trying to decide just how to celebrate the occasion. Unlike him, she hadn't had any hang ups about her birthday. Though she had admitted that her mother's birthday was still a difficult day for her, something Edward could understand all too well. So Edward wanted to make sure she knew just how special he thought she was and just how much he loved her.

Her birthday was on a Sunday, which made it easy for him to plan a whole day with her. But he was starting to panic, because he still didn't have a clue what to do for her. He had taken care of the gift, but it was the planning that was getting him anxious.

She had worked last night and instead of going to her place, she had crashed at his. He had woken up early that morning to find her crawling into his bed and curling up next to him before collapsing. He was guessing it had been a tough shift; if it had been, she would want to talk about it later. First, she would have to have something to eat. She didn't like to vent on an empty stomach.

Edward felt a significant weight settle on his lap. "It's not your breakfast time," he told Sebastian. The cat blinked up at him lazily as if to argue the point. Surprisingly, Bella's cat had settled in quite nicely at his place. Now there was a litter pan, a bag of cat food in his pantry, and a cat tree in one corner of the living room. Rose had laughed at that, until he reminded her that she kept Barbies at her place now. That shut her up in a hurry.

Now when Bella or Edward put his carrier on the floor, he'd amble into it and give a meow as if to tell them he was ready to go. Bella said the cat had delusions of grandeur and just thought of Edward's house as his vacation home.

Sebastian had proven to be a good companion, keeping Edward company as he graded papers, though the cat had a tendency to lay _on_ the very papers Edward was trying to grade. Edward would gently shove him to one side but the moment he got up to get a cup of coffee, he'd return to find Sebastian licking himself, sprawled on the very spot he'd been booted from earlier. The cat had no shame.

He spent the morning preparing some lesson plans, grading papers and entering test grades on the class website so that parents could check on their students' progress. It was a productive morning. Around one, Bella stumbled out of his bedroom, her hair a wild mass around her head. She just made her way into the kitchen and Sebastian was hot on her heels in the ever present hope that she would feed him.

The cat was a glutton, no two ways about it.

Edward followed the cat, kind of hoping to score a kiss as much as the cat was hoping to cadge some tuna. They were pretty greedy when it came to Bella.

She was staring into the refrigerator and she was wearing one of his tee-shirts. It had ridden up just enough for him to see that her panties were bright purple. It was a good color on her, he decided.

He moved in behind her and Sebastian bitched because Edward moved him out of the way. Wrapping his arms around her, he buried his face in her messy, tangled hair. "Good afternoon, beautiful," he said.

She gave a grunt and continued looking into the refrigerator. He turned her around and guided her toward the breakfast counter. "Go. Sit. I'll make you something to eat," he ordered. It was the only time he got away with ordering her around. She was adorably befuddled when she first woke up.

"God, that sounds awesome," she said in a sleep husky voice. Once there, she sort of rested her chin on her hands and stared at him as he began preparing her a grilled cheese sandwich, one of her favorite things to eat when she woke up in the afternoon.

"One or two?" he asked, spatula in hand.

"Two," she said. He slid the first one to her on a plate and poured her a glass of Coke with extra ice. She sucked it down and then began devouring her sandwich. "Seriously, you make the best grilled cheese sandwiches in the world."

"That's the only reason you love me, isn't it?" he teased.

Having consumed one sandwich and stared on the second, she gave him a smirk. "Well that, and you're awesome in the sack."

"I feel so used," he lamented.

She motioned him toward her and she wrapped her arms around him. "Don't worry baby, don't worry your pretty little head about it."

He kissed her, tasting the grilled cheese and Bella. He preferred her taste. "I love you," he said.

"How _much_ do you love me?" she asked, darting a glance up at him from beneath her lashes.

"Uh oh, why am I suddenly a little worried?"

"No reason," Bella assured him breezily. "But seriously...how much do you love me?"

"I do better on true/false or multiple choice questions," he said. "The essays kill me."

"Not funny," she said and gave his ass a slap. "God, I love your ass. Sometimes I just want to bite it." She bared her teeth at him.

"Quit trying to change subject and flatter me and spill the beans Nurse Swan."

She made a pouty face. "Okay, okay," she finally said. "So, anyway, my Dad called while I was on my break last night."

"And?" He had a sinking feeling that he knew where this was going.

"And..." she ran her fingers down his chest and then lingered at his belt. Placing a kiss on the corner of his mouth, she then moved to his ear. "And he and Sue and Seth are coming for a visit."

Edward took a deep breath. He had known this was coming and while he didn't exactly dread it, he was certainly a bit anxious about it. Meeting Bella's family was big – it was more than big, it was huge. In fact, he still hadn't met Leah and she lived in Washington. "Okay, when?"

Bella leaned back and grinned. "Wow, that's pretty impressive."

"What?"

"The way you went from panic mode to 'don't worry I've got this covered' mode in about two seconds flat," she said.

"I'm a high school teacher, I'm used to looking cool under pressure," he assured.

"Well good then, because they'll be here the day after tomorrow," she said.

He took another deep breath. "I just remembered that I got called out of the country."

"Really?" she asked, amused.

"Yep, big teaching emergency in...in...uh...someplace far away, really, _really_ far away," he muttered.

"Big teaching emergency, huh?"

"Huge, astronomical, global proportions and all that," he assured her. "Can't be avoided." He kissed her. "Tell your Dad hi." He looked at the cat. "Come on, Sebastian, let's pack." He turned as if to go. The cat did too. He probably thought Edward had a stash of tuna in the bedroom.

"Hold it right there, Mr. Cullen."

He stopped in his tracks. Sebastian did too. They both turned to look at her, though the cat looked decidedly calmer than the man.

"Come here," she said and opened her arms. He found himself enfolded in her embrace. "He's going to love you, so will Sue and Seth. I promise."

"Sure," he said, sounding unconvinced.

"Hey," she said softly. He raised his eyes to look at her. "Are you really nervous about meeting my Dad?"

"Oddly...yes," he admitted. "It just hit me, all of a sudden, like lightning, out of the blue."

"You're adorable when you're nervous," she told him.

Edward grimaced. "Now you make me sound like a puppy."

"I happen to like puppies." Sebastian meowed his disagreement.

Edward turned to the cat. "See? Now you've upset Sebastian." He shook his head. "That's just wrong. You shouldn't upset the cat."

"Well, Edward," Bella said. "I know of something that will help ease those nerves of _yours_," she said as she slid from the stood and pulled at his belt to get him to follow her.

He liked the direction they were taking because she was making a direct line to the bedroom.

"Oh yeah?" Edward asked.

She pulled him into the bedroom and then pushed him onto the bed, where she tumbled to meet him just a moment later. "Oh yeah," she promised just before her lips found his.

At least, he thought, he wasn't worried about what to do for her birthday anymore.


	13. Chapter 13: The Memories We Make

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

_**Author's Note: Please, please forgive my tardiness. I am getting adjusted to a new and challenging work schedule as well as some other things. I will be updating my stories; it just might take me a while longer. Thank you so much for your patience! I am not abandoning my stories; it's just tough getting writing time these days.**_

**Chapter 13: The Memories We Make**

Edward had gotten up early and now he was getting ready to waken Bella early too. It was a necessary evil and he was sure she would appreciate his efforts once she got over her intense desire to punch him in the face. At least, he hoped so.

Maneuvering the bedroom door open with his shoulder, he kept the tray balanced carefully and placed it on the bedside table. He crawled into bed beside Bella and gently brushed her hair back from her face. "Bella?" he whispered.

She stirred but then simply burrowed more deeply under the covers.

"Bella babe?" He ran his fingers over the curve of her shoulder and then slipped beneath the comforter to trace them down her arm.

"Is the house on fire?" she muttered, her eyes still closed.

"Uh...no."

"Are you having a heart attack, stroke, or are you bleeding excessively?"

"No, no, and no, thank goodness," he replied.

"Then go away and I might let you live another day," Bella offered.

He laughed and snuggled in behind her, Glancing at the clock, he smiled. He had timed it perfectly. "Wake up, babe," he said again. "It's almost time."

She went utterly still for a moment and then rolled onto her back and blinked up at him. Tears filled her eyes and for a horrible moment he thought he had made a terrible mistake. Then her arms were around him and she was pressing frantic kisses to his face. "You remembered that?" she asked after a moment when she finally leaned away to look into his eyes.

"Of course," he said with a smile. "I remember everything you tell me."

He looked at the clock. "Five fifty five," he murmured. "Happy birthday, Bella."

Last month, Bella had told him of her mother's birthday tradition. Every birthday, her mother would wake up her and at the very moment of Bella's birth, 5:55 a.m. she would wish her a happy birthday. She would bring her breakfast in bed and the two of them would snuggle for just a few moments before starting their day. Bella confessed that on the birthday before her mother's death, she had started to worry that their tradition was babyish and had almost told her mother to stop. In the end, however, it hadn't mattered. There were no more early morning mother/daughter moments or birthday celebrations to be had.

Sensing that Bella needed a moment to compose herself, he turned to the tray. "I made Belgian waffles with peanut butter and syrup, just like Mom used to make," he said lightly.

Bella swallowed hard and nodded, her eyes still shimmering suspiciously. Casually, she wiped at her cheek and he did not comment. She sat up and leaned against the headboard, settling herself against the pillows Edward fluffed up behind her. She shared her waffles with him; though he still wasn't sure he liked the peanut butter that Bella insisted made it delicious. He ate it, though.

Sebastian perched on the foot of the bed, watching every bite they shared and when the plate was clear, he gave a little huff of feline disgust and hopped off the bed. Edward noticed that Bella still looked sleepy, so he took away the tray and kissed her on the forehead. "Why don't you get some more sleep?" he suggested quietly.

She nodded but got up and sort of stumbled to the bathroom. A few moments later, she emerged and Edward pulled back the covers, inviting her in with the gesture. He curled up against her and held her until he felt her fall slack against him. One more kiss and he slipped out of the bed, making sure she was covered and warm.

He had things to do, and besides, he was too excited to sleep. This was just the first of what he hoped would be many birthdays they would spend together.

~~**AATG~~**

Bella was still sleeping as it approached eleven. Edward was more than content for her to do so, because he still had some last minute things to attend to for her day. Sebastian watched it all with studied indifference, though it was obvious he was still pouting about having missed out on waffles earlier in the morning. Now every time Edward opened the refrigerator, the cat gave a hopeful, persistent meow. Most of the time, the cat wasn't disappointed. The cat, Edward also decided as he tossed him a bit of chicken, was getting fat. "It's time to put you on a diet, buddy," Edward told him.

Sebastian turned away abruptly, waving his tail as he sauntered away. "When pigs fly," his posture seemed to say.

Carefully, Edward packed the picnic basket and made sure that he had put in enough cold packs that everything would stay fresh. He had done his cooking this morning after breakfast in bed, when Bella would be in a deep enough sleep not to waken. When everything was in the basket, he closed the lid and put it in his vehicle.

When he returned to the house, he heard Bella in the shower and smiled because she was singing – loudly and off key. He shook his head. He loved her, but the girl couldn't carry a tune at all. While she showered, he slipped into the bedroom and took out some jeans and a long sleeved shirt from her side of the closet and put them on the bed, hoping she would take his suggestion.

Half an hour later, she emerged from the bedroom, her hair loose and curly around her shoulders, just how he liked it best. She was wearing the clothes he had laid out for her, a fact which made him smile. "Ready?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"Ready," she confirmed.

Then they were out the door.

**~~AATG~~**

Their first stop was the Willard Smith Planetarium. Bella had mentioned that her mother often took her to the planetarium on special occasions. Though Edward didn't want to dwell on her mother for the whole day, he recognized how much she had missed the small traditions her mother had brought to her special day. After the plane went down, those traditions were just yet another casualty. Edward understood that well enough; there were many things that had simply vanished along with Ellis. To be able to give some small measure of that back to Bella was his goal. The day wasn't so much about mourning what had been lost forever, but about reclaiming what was still left, and perhaps, creating something new and just as precious.

When she realized where they were going, she simply reached over and squeezed his hand and he knew that he had made the right choice. The childlike wonder on her face during the show held Edward's interest far more than anything else. He had grown accustomed to the cool, composed ER nurse he saw when he visited her at work. He had become familiar with the passionate woman who still managed to take his breath away – both literally and figuratively. He had come to know the daughter who still grieved and he understood that grief far better than most. But this side of Bella, this awed and amazed woman/child he saw before him added a new layer to his knowledge and appreciation of her.

As they exited the planetarium, Edward pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It was a sweet, slow kiss, gently passionate, giving and taking in equal measure. "I love you so much," he said when he leaned away.

She rested her head on his chest, her arms still around his waist. "I love you too," she answered. Then she looked up and their eyes met and for the first time, Edward had a conscious realization – an epiphany of sorts.

He loved her and he knew that one day, he wanted to marry her.

He closed his eyes and laughed a little, knowing it was much too soon to speak the words. But as he held her hand, he found contentment in the knowledge that the future waited for them – and it would be wonderful.

**~~AATG~~**

Their picnic lunch was fun and filled with laughter. They did not speak of loved ones lost or past birthdays that might have been more sorrowful than happy. He told her amusing stories from his classroom; she shared some funny anecdotes from the emergency room. They spoke of people they both knew, and of those who might be strangers to the other. They spoke of her family, her father and Sue. She told him how much she loved Seth and how even Leah had grown on her.

"We're very different," Bella admitted. "But at the core, she's someone I can relate to – and we have the common ground of having lost a parent," she explained with a shrug. "She's loyal to a fault, stubborn, but generous. Once she's your friend, she's your friend forever. She doesn't deviate from that, no matter what."

"Will she come to visit since your father and Sue are coming?" Edward asked, tugging at a strand of Bella's hair that was blowing in the breeze. He was feeling sleepy and full, but the love he felt expanding inside of him made him feel almost giddy. It was a strange dichotomy of relaxation and excitement that left him feeling dizzy and dazed.

"She'll be there," Bella promised. She looked down at him, sprawled on the blanket he had spread for them. She plopped down beside him and gazed up at the cloudy sky. Without thinking, she linked her fingers through his, content merely to hold his hand and look at the clouds.

"I don't think I've ever had a more perfect birthday," she said softly.

He turned and smiled at her. "I haven't even given you your present yet," he replied just as quietly.

"Yes you did," she murmured, reaching out to brush her fingers over his face.

"And what was your present?" he asked with a grin.

"You," Bella answered. "You gave me you."

** ~~AATG~~**

He had not wanted to give Bella her birthday present while they were out. Instead, it was waiting at his house. For dinner he would give her the choice of making her a meal while she sat on the couch and enjoyed a movie or going to the restaurant of her choice. He had a feeling that he would be cooking, which was just fine by him.

They arrived back at his house, placated Sebastian by giving him a few bits of left over chicken, and Edward and Bella sat on the couch. He patted his lap and she put her feet there, as was her custom. Twelve hour shifts on her feet had given her a keen appreciation for a good foot rub, and Edward was happy to supply them.

As he stretched and kneaded her arches, she gave a sexy little moan that had his body reacting in predictable ways. But, being a good boyfriend, he ignored the clamoring need of his body for hers and concentrated on massaging her feet. As he ran his thumb up the sole of her foot, she closed her eyes in bliss.

"Damn boy," she muttered. "You give good foot."

"Good foot?" he asked, amused.

"Yeah, it's like giving good head, but sometimes I think it's even better," she explained, her eyes still closed.

"I beg to differ," Edward countered.

She opened one eye to look at him. "Try running around an ER for twelve hours and I bet you'd see it my way."

"Point taken," he conceded as he rubbed out the last bit of tension in her feet. "Better?"

"Always," she said as she moved to snuggle up against him.

"Can I give you your present now?" he asked.

She sat up straight and beamed. "Yes please," Bella said politely.

"Greedy," he teased.

"For you? Yes," she admitted.

"Stay right there," he ordered as he jogged to the guest bedroom to retrieve her gift. When he walked back in carrying a large rectangular package, Bella tilted her head.

"Okay, so my first guess was wrong," she said.

"What did you guess?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Uh uh, no way, I'm not telling." And she mimed zipping her lips, making Edward roll his eyes.

"All right, be stubborn," he told her and then handed her the package.

She ripped through the wrapping paper like a child on Christmas morning, her eagerness obvious. When the gift was revealed, she gave a soft, "Oh..." and then went silent.

That, of course, made Edward nervous and he swallowed hard. "Uh, I hope...shit...maybe I-"

Her kiss cut off the flow of words. "Shut up," she said. "Don't ruin this absolutely perfect moment."

"Oh..." he said.

They sat back and looked at the large photo collage. There were pictures of Bella as a child, pictures of her mother, her father. But there were also pictures of Edward and Ellis and Rosalie. A snapshot of Emmett and Alice was in one corner. There was even a shot of Edward and Bella from the barbeque, sitting next to each other, unaware of the camera, their eyes only for each other. Edward was smiling at her, reaching out to touch her. The photographs overlapped, each one touching another. And there were several blank spaces, waiting to be filled.

"Those are for us," he explained quietly. "For the memories we'll make."

"For us," she said and kissed him again.


	14. Chapter 14: A Perfect Fit

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 14: A Perfect Fit**

Edward Cullen sat on the couch with his arms arranged awkwardly in his lap. Across the small space of the living room, Charlie Swan sat just as uncomfortably in his chair. They both looked toward the kitchen where their women had disappeared. Traitors.

Charlie cleared his throat, obviously as uncomfortable and ill at ease as Edward was. "So..." he began and then trailed off into silence again.

"So, how was your trip?" Edward asked, grasping at any straw that came to mind.

"Long," Charlie replied. Nothing more. Great. Awesome. Helpful.

"How do you like South Carolina?" Edward asked, trying again.

"Hate it," Charlie replied. Wow, two whole words.

"Oh," Edward said, unsure what the proper response was.

Another long, self-conscious silence hung between the two men.

"So..." Edward said.

Charlie looked at him and gave him an unexpected grin. "They did this on purpose, you know."

"Who did what?" Edward asked, confused.

"They abandoned us here, to our own devices," Charlie explained. "They want us to talk and bond or some shit like that." He snorted. "Women," he grumbled, as if that explained it all. And it pretty much did, really.

"Bella's pretty stubborn," Edward noted.

Charlie shook his head. "She's got nothing on Sue, believe me."

"So...what do you want to talk about?" Edward offered. _Please__don__'__t__let__it__be__the__fact__that__I__'__m__nailing__your__daughter__on__a__very__regular__basis_.

"Not much," Charlie replied and Edward knew he was thinking about the fact that Edward was nailing his daughter on a very regular basis. Hell, that's what _he__'__d_be thinking about if the situation was reversed. That thought made him frown.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing," Edward muttered.

"Bella says you're a teacher," Charlie finally said in an attempt to make nice conversation.

"Yeah, history, civics, stuff like that," Edward answered, relieved to have a topic of discussion that he could actually follow.

"You like it?" Charlie asked.

"Love it," Edward replied with a grin. "Best decision I ever made. Well...until recently." Uh oh. That just opened up the door on the whole "Bella is my life" conversation and he wasn't ready for that. No way. Not by a long shot.

Charlie grimaced. Good. Maybe he'd let it drop. "So you and Bella are getting along pretty good, huh?"

Shit. Maybe not. "Uh yeah, I mean...she's wonderful," Edward said lamely. Then he swallowed hard, terrified that he would inadvertently somehow mention how smoking hot Bella was in bed. For one sickening instant, he had almost been convinced that what he had actually said was "...she's wonderful _in__bed_." And now that the thought had occurred to him, that horrifying possibility seemed to be all he could think about. He was afraid to open his mouth.

Charlie scowled and Edward wondered if he could read minds. "Uh uh," he finally said, looking at his clasped hands. Then he looked up and Edward felt those cop's eyes on him. "You aren't planning on hurting my girl, are you, Cullen?"

There was a desert in his throat now, along with a lump the size of the Grand Canyon. "No sir," he answered in a voice that was strained. Suddenly, he was sixteen years old again and picking Sheree Lablosky to go the Homecoming Dance.

"Good, because if you were-"

"Stop it this instant, Charles Swan." Sue's voice cut through the tension and Edward wanted to fall to his knees in gratitude. Charlie Swan turned a little pale as he glanced at his wife.

"What?" he asked in a vain attempt at innocence. Sue rolled her eyes and sat on the arm of his chair.

"You know what," Sue admonished him, shaking her head. "Stop it."

Charlie huffed and sat back in his chair, frowning like a child how had been told to mind his manners in church. Edward allowed himself a little smile.

Bella walked out with a tray of coffee and tea and took one look at her father and Edward. "Oh Daddy," she said. "I'm a grown up. You don't need to whip it out and-"

"Isabella Marie!" Charlie looked at her in shock.

"What?" Bella said with a look of faux innocence that was an exact replica of her father's. "I was talking about your gun," she teased.

Charlie grumbled as Sue handed him a cup of coffee. "Just not right..." he muttered.

Bella sat down beside Edward and leaned into him. "Now, if you two boys are done with your male posturing and fluffing of your pretty feathers, maybe we can all sit down and have a nice conversation?"

"Hey, Bells! You got anything good to eat in this house?" Seth's voice came from the kitchen.

Bella rolled her eyes. "There are some cookies and brownies on the second shelf."

"I don't see them," Seth complained.

"You might have to move something out of the way to see them," Sue called out with a look of exasperation. "I swear," she muttered. "That boy, won't look behind anything. Expects everything to be right there in front of his face and even then..."

"Found 'em!" Seth yelled.

"So," Charlie said again.

** ~~AATG~~**

"So why are we going to Miss Bella's house?" Alice asked yet again as her father brushed her hair. He had gotten good at the girly stuff over the last few years, which was a good thing because his daughter was about as "girly" as they came. She had gotten that from her mother, who had been feminine and strong and smart. He still missed her. Then he smiled at the little girl in the mirror. But he still had Alice, and she had given him hope.

"Is Miss Rose coming too?" Alice asked. Again.

"Yes," Emmett replied, nodding. "I told you that already," he reminded her.

"I know," Alice said, running her fingers over the various hair bows and barrettes on the bathroom counter. This was Alice's bathroom and it was decorated in various shades of pink, purple, and bright green. It made Emmett's eyes ache every time he walked into it, but the color scheme made Alice happy. What made Alice happy made him happy, even if his eyeballs bled.

"And we're going to Miss Bella's house because her Daddy is there," Emmett said again.

"But not her Mommy," Alice observed.

Their eyes met in the mirror. "No, baby, her mommy is in heaven."

"Like mine," Alice murmured.

"Yes, like your mommy," Emmett agreed, wondering when it would stop hurting to think about Michelle.

"Is Mr. Edward's mommy going to be there?" Alice asked.

Emmett shook his head. "No, sweetie, not today anyway."

Alice seemed to take that in and ponder it for a moment. "Miss Rose is Mr. Edward's sister, right?"

"Uh uh," Emmett said, frowning as he tried to get the braid just right. Damn, her hair was getting thick. Sometimes, when he brushed Alice's hair he remembered brushing Michelle's hair. It had been thick and black and oh so soft... With a sigh, he tore himself away from the memories. In truth, he had been feeling a bit guilty lately. He still missed Michelle, and he would always love her. But recently, when he looked at Rosalie Cullen, something inside of him ached..._wanted_. What the hell was up with that? He was done with love and romance. Right?

"How come I don't have a brother?" Alice asked, causing Emmett to gape at her for a moment.

"Uh...well..." Now there was a loaded topic if there ever was one. How to explain to a six year old that her mother had, in fact, been carrying what would have been her brother or sister when she died? They had just found out about the baby a few weeks before the accident; Michelle hadn't even been far enough along to risk telling Alice yet. Of course, the baby had been the first casualty of the accident. Michelle had miscarried in the emergency room. "We just didn't have time to give you a brother or sister," he finally said, which was an honest answer. There was no need for gory details that she wouldn't understand anyway.

Alice accepted that truth with a nod of her dark head. "Oh."

"Miss Rose will be here soon," Emmett said as he put the band around the end of the braid. It looked pretty good, he decided.

Alice jumped up from the stool he kept in the bathroom just for doing her hair. "Hooray!"

"Slow down," he chided automatically as he wiped down the sink and put the stool in the corner.

But Alice was already running down the hall, singing as loudly as she could. The doorbell rang a moment later and Emmett hurried out to answer it, telling himself that he wasn't eager to see Rosalie for himself. No, it was all about Alice. Right. Sure.

** ~~AATG~~**

Bella and Rose and Sue were in the kitchen. They could hear Alice's laughter as Seth amused her, giving her piggy back rides and playing Chutes and Ladders with her. Seth had taken to the little girl with surprising ease, keeping her occupied while the adults talked.

"So did your father warm up to Edward right away?" Rose asked. The two men had seemed very comfortable with each other, enjoying cold beers and dirty jokes when they thought the women were out of ear shot.

"Uh, not exactly," Bella admitted with a laugh.

Sue nodded. "We figured they'd have to get past the testosterone thing first, so we let them size each other up and get all male. Then they decided that their discomfort was all our fault and they united in their annoyance at us and we turned on some sort of sports and gave them some beer after forcing them to share some coffee and awkward conversations and voila! They were friends."

Rose laughed. "You two are sneaky," she observed in an admiring voice.

Bella shrugged. "You have to know your prey, and then act accordingly."

"Besides," Sue added. "It worked when Leah brought home her guy. So we figured we'd give it a shot with Edward."

The three women were making the evening meal, keeping an ear out for the men and for Alice. "So, how's it going with Emmett?" Bella asked quietly with a look over her shoulder toward the living room.

"Slow," Rose admitted. "I think he feels guilty."

"For what?" Bella asked.

"Because he totally wants to get all up in this," Rose said with a smirk, gesturing toward her lovely body. "And he doesn't _want_ to want me, so he's got his boxers in a twist."

Bella snorted with laughter. "So what's the plan?"

Rose grinned and popped a baby carrot into her mouth. "Well," she answered after a moment. "I'm going to pretend I don't know he wants to jump me. But I'm going to make it very hard for _him_ to ignore the fact for too much longer."

"Playing dirty?" Sue guessed.

"As dirty as I can," Rose admitted. Then she sighed and sat down on a chair, her shoulders slumped in dejection. "Well, maybe not dirty. Really, I think I'll just wear him down by being there for them. I just think if he could admit it, maybe act on it in some small way, we could finally work through his feelings. I understand he loved his wife, but if she loved him _half_ as much, I think she'd want him to be happy, you know?"

"Oh sweetie," Bella said as she sat down beside her. "I'm sorry; I thought you two would be a good fit, but now..."

"That's the thing," Rose said, leaning forward. "We are a good fit. Absolutely. Actually, the _three_ of us are a perfect fit." She smiled. "Emmett just needs to see that. And he will. I just have to have patience. We haven't known each other that long, after all. So I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. I'll be there for Alice. I'll be there a lot for her, and eventually, he's going to realize that there's nothing wrong with wanting to be a man again – not just a father. He'll come around, and I'll be waiting when he does."

"He's very lucky to have you," Sue said.

"Yeah, he is," Rose agreed. "And I'm just as lucky to have him and Alice. It'll take time, but it will happen. You'll see."


	15. Chapter 15: Necessary Roughness

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

_**Author's Note: Kudos to the reader who saw this coming! :D**_

**Chapter 15: Necessary Roughness**

By the time Charlie and Sue and Seth made their farewells, Edward was fairly certain that he and Bella's father had come to some sort of understanding. Edward wouldn't hurt Bella by word or deed and Charlie would allow Edward to continue breathing. They were both pretty content with the deal. The most surprising aspect of the visit was the revelation that Charlie Swan did indeed hate Charleston –"too much damned sunshine!" – and that they were moving back to Washington at the end of the school year. Charlie and Sue had plans to re-open the store she'd left behind at La Push.

"That means I'll be able to drop in," Charlie warned Edward as they said their good-byes.

"Looking forward to it, sir," Edward replied. He could play that game too. He grinned at Charlie, knowing he was safe as their women were just a few steps away.

"We'll see," Charlie said. "We'll see."

Edward was too happy at the prospect of having Bella to himself again to take that with ill grace, so he was grinning widely and waving like a madman as Charlie backed the rental car out of her driveway.

Two and a half minutes later, he had Bella's jeans off and was sliding inside of her on the couch.

Sebastian chose not to watch.

** ~~AATG~~**

The next few months passed serenely. Charlie and Sue announced that they would be coming back to Washington during the holidays – for good this time. Thanksgiving had been nice, though Bella had had to go to work later that night. They left his parents' house early so that she could get a few hours of sleep.

Of course, the "nap" had turned into snuggling. The snuggling had turned into making out. And the making out had turned into making love.

Bella didn't complain, though she did yawn quite a bit at work that night.

**~~AATG~~**

"So," Bella said as she popped a tortilla chip into her mouth. "Have you decided what to get Alice for Christmas?"

She and Rose had grown close over the last few months. They got together once or twice a month for lunch while Edward was at work. There were no penises allowed, as they'd told him.

Rose shrugged, looking dejected. "Yeah, I think so anyway."

Bella studied her friend for a long moment. "Uh oh, what did Emmett do?"

Rose's eyes flickered up to meet Bella's and then looked away. "Nothing. Really."

"Uh huh," Bella said. "So why do you look like someone pissed in your cornflakes?"

Rose grimaced. "Nothing. I swear. But that's the problem, you know? Honestly, I feel like we're moving backwards, not forwards. Forget two steps forward, one step back. We're stuck in one step forward and a dozen steps back." She began crumbling the chips until Bella moved the bowl out of her reach.

"I like my chips in one piece, thanks," Bella chided.

"I hate men," Rose said mournfully.

"No you don't," Bella assured her.

"I do," Rose insisted.

"No, you don't," Bella said again. "You just want to kill them sometimes. Perfectly understandable. And sometimes you have to fight the mad urge to remove that part they're all so damned proud of. And of course there is the almost daily urge to stomp on their toes and tell them to grow the hell up."

"I thought you were supposed to be giving me a pep talk," Rose muttered.

"I'm just saying, that as annoying as men can be, they're also really cute and useful and fun to play with," Bella added with a wicked smirk. "Especially those aforementioned parts."

"I'm beginning to hate you too," Rose grumbled.

"No you don't," Bella said airily. "You love me. But what you need, my girl, is to get your ass out of your funk."

"I'm not in a funk," Rose insisted.

"You are," Bella retorted. "You've been running yourself ragged trying to be there 24/7 for Alice and Emmett. That's great. Honestly and truly wonderful. I love Em, I really do. But the boy has his head stuck so far up his ass that he needs it kicked to dislodge it. You'd practically be doing a public service."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Rose asked.

"Well, for starters, you can start living your own life too, Rose."

"But I love spending time with Alice and Emmett," Rose protested.

"And that's great, but you're a grown woman who has let a lot of your own interests and desires fall by the wayside. That shit has to stop. Now," Bella added with an emphatic nod of her head.

"So you're saying I shouldn't see them anymore?" Rose asked.

"No, even if that would teach Emmett a thing or two, I know you wouldn't do that to Alice, so that's not even an option."

Rose seemed to relax a bit then. "So...what do I do?"

"Start being Rose again," Bella explained. "Start doing some of the stuff you enjoyed before Emmett and Alice came along. Just be yourself."

"I don't see how that's going to help," Rose said under her breath.

Bella shook her head and patted Rose on the hand. "Oh, it's really kind of cute how naïve and forthright you Cullens are." She pretended to wipe a tear from her eye. "It gives me the warm fuzzies, it really does."

"Bitch."

"Exactly," Bella agreed. She took another look at Rose's discouraged expression and sighed. "Okay, okay, geez, don't make me feel like I kicked a puppy or something."

"What?"

"So, you've been there pretty much every day for Emmett, right?"

Rose nodded.

"And he's all buddy buddy with you, but not kissy kissy, right?"

Rose nodded again.

"So would you say that maybe – just _maybe_ – Emmett's gotten a little complacent and just _might_be taking you for granted?" Bella pressed. "You know, sort of thinking that you'll always be there...no matter what?"

Rose frowned thoughtfully and then slowly nodded.

"Well don't you think a man who is taking a woman for granted ought to be taught a lesson?" Bella asked. "For his own good, of course."

Rose looked puzzled for a moment and then her eyes went wide. "I do," she breathed. "Because that shit's just not right."

Bella nodded solemnly. "That shit's just not right," she agreed.

Rose picked up her drink and held it up in a toast toward Bella. "May I just say how damned lucky my brother is and how glad I am that he has you to kick his ass and keep him in line. Leaves me free to school Emmett."

"With all due love and respect," Bella said, clinking her glass with Rose's. "To men, and resisting the urge to kill them."

"To men, and teaching them the lessons they need to learn," Rose added.

"I'll drink to that!" 

** ~~AATG~~**

Emmett and Alice and Rose were once again at Edward's house for dinner. He had invited them for some homemade pasta and marinara sauce. School had let out for Christmas break the day before and Edward said he intended on enjoying every single day of his two and a half week vacation.

"So, Bella and I are going shopping tomorrow," Edward said as he picked up a piece of garlic bread. "Do you want to come with us?" He directed his question to Emmett and Rose.

Rose smiled softly and shook her head even as Emmett nodded yes. Emmett stopped. Looked at her. And frowned.

"Why don't you want to go?" he asked. "My neighbor even said she could keep an eye on Alice for a little while if I wanted to get some shopping done for _someone_." His eyes shot toward his daughter.

Alice was oblivious, content for the moment to play with her spaghetti, slurping it up one strand at a time and getting marinara all over her face.

"Oh, that's nice, Emmett, really," Rose said sweetly. "But I've already done my shopping for a certain someone. And I've got plans tomorrow."

Edward glanced at Bella, who quickly dipped her head and tried to hide a smirk.

Emmett's frown grew deeper. "What kind of plans?" he blurted out.

Rose looked surprised and took another sip of wine. "Well, the personal kind of plans if you must know."

Emmett's expression grew thunderous. "So you can't go shopping tomorrow?"

Rose laughed and shook her head. "Silly, I just said I couldn't. Bradford is off for the school holiday too and we thought we'd make a day of it. Lunch, some shopping of our own, maybe a movie later." She shrugged elegantly. "We'll just have to see out it all pans out."

"Who the hell is Bradford?" Emmett's tone distracted Alice from her spaghetti.

"Daddy you said a bad word," Alice announced.

"Yeah, yeah," Emmett agreed, obviously not paying much attention. "So who is this _Bradford_ guy?" He snorted. "And what the he- what kind of name is Bradford, anyway?"

Rose put her wine glass down and gave a soft, long suffering sigh. "Well, if you must know, and it appears that you must, he's the principal at a school I go to sometimes. I work with him on a fairly regular basis and he asked me out." She lifted her shoulders nonchalantly. "And I like him so I said yes."

"Sounds like a douche," Emmett proclaimed.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Really? And you're basing this on what?" 

"His name. It's a douchey name," Emmett muttered.

"What's a douchey?" Alice asked.

"Never you mind, Mary Alice," Emmett said quickly.

Edward wanted to laugh. He really did. One glance at Bella's face and he had immediately guessed at Rose's game. Rose had a much better poker face, however, and it was clear that Emmett was in a tizzy. Right where Rose wanted him.

Emmett looked at Edward for support. Edward pretended not to notice. There was no way in hell he was going to piss off both his sister and his woman. No way, never going to happen. He happened to like his balls at their current location, thank you very much.

"Have you heard of this guy, Bradford?" Emmett asked scornfully.

Edward frowned for a moment. "Wait, yeah," he said. "I think Dad's mentioned him a few times. He thinks he's a good guy." Edward shrugged, having just told a whopper of a lie without so much as a twitching eyelid. He had no idea in hell who Bradford was, but he wasn't stupid.

Rose gave him a sly wink and turned back to Emmett with a very innocent expression. "Anyway, I'm sure Bella and Edward can help you shop." Then she reached out and patted his hand in a very maternal fashion. "You'll be fine, big guy."

Emmett's jaw clenched, but he didn't offer up another word of protest. Instead, he attacked his pasta as if it had personally offended him.

Rose: 1. Emmett: Clueless.


	16. Chapter 16: Rosalie's Secret

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 16: Rosalie's Secret**

"I know what you're up to," Edward drawled as he and Bella put away the dishes. It had been a nice dinner, well until Emmett began pouting and Rose continued to goad him with subtle little digs. By the time they'd left, they'd barely been speaking to each other, but Bella had seemed satisfied.

Bella turned and gave him a look of innocence that was overly done. Edward just snorted and shook his head. "Don't try to deny it," he told her. "You've got the worst poker face in the world."

"Yeah, but Emmett's eyes never left Rose, even when his jaw was clenched so tight I heard his teeth grinding, so our secret is safe," Bella noted with smugness. "It is safe, isn't it, Edward Cullen?"

"No need to use both names," he chided. "I know whose bed I'm sleeping in." He approached her and pulled her into his arms, giving her a lascivious look before planting his lips on hers. "And whose panties I want to get into," he added when he pulled back.

She gave him a playful smack on the chest. "Watch it, mister, or they'll be no panting diving for you."

"That sounds gross," he said, making a face.

"Yeah, you didn't think it was gross when you planted your slobbery face in my panties the other night," Bella reminded him.

"Slobbery?" he said, looking offended. Then he shrugged. "True, though," he said, kissing a path down her neck. "Very true."

"So you're keeping your beautiful mouth shut on the subject?"

"Hmm...mouth...secret...whatever you say," he muttered as his lips found her collar bone.

Then he surprised her by picking her up, making her squeal with laughter and fake outrage. He carried her to the bedroom and tossed her lightly on the mattress. "Now," he said, stalking toward the bed. "I'd like a little something for my cooperation."

He stood by the edge of the bed and slowly took off his shirt. "You're still wearing clothes, love," he admonished. "That won't do."

"This is blackmail, you realize that don't you?" Nevertheless, her fingers began tugging at the buttons of her blouse.

"That's right, beautiful," he murmured. "Keep on stripping."

Bella slipped the blouse off her shoulders and then cupped her breasts in her hands, barely hidden by the lacy cups of her bra. "Uh oh," she said in dismayed voice. "I can't reach the hook." She slightly turned her shoulder. "Could you help me with that?"

Edward gave a small growl and reached down and flicked at the back of her bra with two fingers. "Off," he ordered gruffly.

"You're being kind of bossy," Bella told him, though she didn't sound like she was complaining.

"You're not getting undressed," Edward noted, quirking one brow at her. He shook his head at her disobedience.

"I forgot how to," Bella simpered and then she squealed when Edward threw himself on top of her, pressing her into the mattress.

"I'll show you," he promised, his lips settling into the hollow of her throat. His hand roamed down to the button of her slacks. "First," he murmured. "You undo the button."

Her lips were pressed to his ear. "Button. Got it. Go on."

Chuckling, Edward licked his way down her chest and then circled first one nipple then the other. "Then you unzip the pants," he said breathlessly as he proceeded to do just that.

"Unzip," Bella whispered. "I think I can manage that."

"Then you slide them off your delicious legs," Edward continued, kissing down her ribs and belly as he pushed her slacks down her hips and legs.

"Delicious," Bella murmured as she arched into his touch. "Keep going."

"And the panties too," he reminded her. "They've got to go."

"Panties gone," she agreed.

Edward's hands were clumsy and rough as he shoved his jeans down his hips after he unbuttoned the fly, his cock slapping lightly against his belly. With a grunt, he was between her thighs, opening them up to him and in the next instant he was sliding home. "And then this," he panted.

"Oh I like this," Bella said softly as she wrapped her legs around his hips.

**~~AATG~~**

"So tell me," Bradford began with a slight smile. "What compelled you to make such a proposal?" They had finally finished their shopping and had decided to enjoy a nice, leisurely lunch.

Rose reached out and cupped his cheek. "Because I think we both deserve happiness, but sometimes people need a little kick in the ass to make them realize just what they're missing out on." She sighed. "And if the idiots we love are too blind to see what's right in front of them, then I guess they need a little reminder of everything they're turning down."

He held up his glass of wine. "Here's to brilliant women and the men they manipulate."

"Hey!" Rose protested for a moment.

"Oh you know I'm right," Bradford said. "Besides, I like spending time with you."

"Good thing, since I think both Emmett and Kathy are going to need some time to get their acts together," Rose muttered.

"Will it really be so hard?" Bradford asked with a little smirk, cutting into his steak. "Spending time with me, I mean."

"Hell no," Rose said. "But honestly, you'd think the man would have gotten a clue by now." She scowled at her wine glass for a moment.

"Tell me about it," Bradford commiserated. "I don't know how many times I've tried to ask Kathy out and every time, she shoots me down." He looked like a depressed basset hound for a moment, so thoroughly pitiful that Rose wanted to hug him.

"What's her hang up anyway?" Rose asked, taking a bite of her own steak. She moaned. It really was good. "You're smart, reasonably attractive." Bradford put his hand over his heart at that. "You have a good job, you own your own house. And so far I haven't discovered any horrifying secrets that would lead me to believe you're a serial killer or anything. So why won't she at least go out with you?"

Bradford rolled his eyes. "Believe it or not, she's five years older than me, and in her eyes, this constitutes an obstacle."

"So she's a cougar, huh?" Rose teased.

Bradford laughed. "If only," he said. "I'd offer to be her boy toy any day, but alas, she seems immune to my charms."

"I don't think so," Rose observed. "I can't imagine anyone being immune to your considerable charms, Brad."

"_You_ are," he pointed out with a shake of his head.

"Ah yes, but only because I've always known your heart was claimed by the fair Kathy," Rose replied. "Besides, we work well together. Why ruin a good thing?"

"I'd really like for her to claim other parts of me too," Bradford said with a pout.

"And there's the male part of you rearing its ugly head," Rose said with a roll of her eyes. "Literally."

"It's not ugly, by the way."

"That remains a matter of opinion on which I have no desire to make a judgement call," Rose said with a grimace. "Don't ruin a perfectly good steak by being male."

"But that's why you love me," Bradford told her. "Because I'm so disgustingly male and obnoxious. Admit it, you have a fondness for loud, big, and messy."

"Maybe I'd better warn Kathy to stay far away from you," Rose threatened.

"But if you do that, then I'll just retaliate in kind," he threatened right back with a grin.

"Remind me again why I like you?" Rose asked.

**~~AATG~~**

"So your dad knows this Bradford guy?" Emmett questioned Edward. They were in the mall, which seemed more and more like a very bad idea.

"Yes," Edward answered distractedly. And there was Victoria's Secret. He was a guy and just walking by the place stirred up all sorts of fantasies for him. Oh hell yes, Bella would look unbelievable in that little red number. Red might be cliché, but it was popular for a reason, he decided. Red was the color passion and desire. It was also the color of hot, sweaty sex. He was a fan of hot, sweaty sex.

He started to gravitate toward the entrance of the store. Bella had wanted some time to roam the bookstore and she had given him the look that meant he was to entertain and distract Emmett for a while. She thought Emmett might open up more to a guy. Edward wanted to protest that he didn't particularly want Emmett to open up, especially if it concerned Rose. She was his sister, and as far as Edward was concerned, she had never had – and never _would_ have – a lover. Gross.

"So what's his deal?" Emmett asked as Edward ran his fingers over a silky little nightie. He just might have to buy that for Bella too. He'd look forward to seeing it on her. And he'd like it even more when it was on his floor.

"Whose deal?" Edward asked. Black or pink?

"This Bradford guy," Emmett said with obvious impatience. "Dude, pay attention."

Sighing heavily, Edward turned away from his very satisfying fantasy comparison of the two colors against Bella's flesh and turned with exasperation to Emmett. "Listen, if you want to know about Bradford, why not just ask Rose? I don't know the guy."

"I can't ask her," Emmett said, aghast.

"Why the hell not?" Edward griped. "You keep asking _me_ shit. Why not her?"

"Because if I ask her, she'll think I'm jealous," Emmett grumbled, crossing his massive arms over the wide expanse of his chest. For all his size, he sounded suspiciously like a petulant little boy at the moment.

"Well..._are_you?" Edward asked.

Panic flared in Emmett's eyes. "Hell no," he snapped.

Edward quirked one brow. "Really? Because that's kind of how it's sounding from my end of things."

"You're crazy!" Emmett protested. He shrugged. "It's just...you know...I worry. Rose is a great girl and if this guy hurts her then..."

"Then I'll be sure to beat his ass," Edward said dryly. "Rose isn't your concern anyway."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emmett said.

"It means that you two are just friends, and if some guy does something to hurt _my_ sister, then that's my problem. Not yours. _Mine_," Edward emphasized. "Got it?"

"No need to get all pissy," Emmett bitched.

Edward turned back to the nighties. Black. Definitely black. Well, maybe pink. Pink would look good against Bella's skin and hair. There was a moment of blessed silence and Edward entertained a few more fantasies while he looked through the selection. Of course, the purple one was pretty too, and a little more see-through, which was a point in its favor. She'd look good in purple and then he could –

"So is this Bradford guy good looking or what?" Emmett muttered.

Edward rolled his eyes and moved farther into the store, determined to leave Emmett far behind.

"Well_is_ he?" Emmett called out.


	17. Chapter 17: Christmas Confessions

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

_**Author's Note: This chapter is a bit longer than I intended. And to be honest, I meant for it to be mostly Bella and Edward. But Emmett decided he had some things to say and that now was the time to do it. So there you go...**_

**Chapter 17: Christmas Confessions**

Edward Cullen was no longer one for brooding. There had been a time, especially right after Ellis' death, that he had indulged in that particular thing more often than was healthy. But with time, and healing, he had gained some distance from that rather distressing habit. This time, however, unlike in times past, his brooding was of a happy nature, with uncertainty as the only sour note to be heard.

Would she or wouldn't she?

He had a feeling she would, but then again, such things could never be taken for granted, could they? Tonight was Christmas Eve, and Edward had something he wanted to say. He had formulated the words a thousand times in his head, until they all became quite jumbled and nonsensical.

He could only hope that when the time came, he would express himself with something approaching sense and eloquence. And if that failed, he would just beg.

He was fine with begging.

** ~~AATG~~**

Bella checked her make-up in the mirror one more time. She and Edward were going to have dinner with his family and then go to his house to spend the night so that they could wake up together on Christmas morning. For Bella, it was the first Christmas since her mother's death that happiness outweighed the grief, the missing of a vital part of herself.

Sebastian meowed as he sauntered into the bathroom to keep abreast of any developments. "I'm not feeding you again," Bella told him sternly. He blinked up at her serenely, as if sure of his powers of persuasion.

"I'm not," Bella repeated.

He gave a quiet meow and Bella was quite sure it was the feline equivalent of, "We shall see, now won't we?"

Bella leaned down and scratched behind his ears. "You're not coming tonight," she told him.

_Meow._

"Not yet, we'll stop by and get you later," she promised.

_Meow._

"Stop being so pushy," Bella chided.

He wound himself between her ankles, either trying to trip her or to express his undying affection. It really could go either way, Bella thought.

She heard the door open and Edward call out. They had long since moved past knocking on each other's doors. Bella and Sebastian went out into the living room.

"Nice tie," Bella murmured as she pulled him closer with it.

"Thank you," he whispered against her lips. "My very beautiful, sexy girlfriend got it for me...just because."

"She sounds like a keeper," Bella told him with a smirk.

"And she's amazing in bed too," Edward replied with a wriggle of his eyebrows.

"You're such a slut," Bella teased. "Led around by your cock."

He pushed his hips against hers. "I'm not sure about that," he said. "But let's try it on for size."

Bella gave him a gentle shove and shook her head admonishingly. "No time for that, Mr. Cullen," she reminded him. "We're due at your parents soon and we have to leave now."

Edward's lips pursed in a pout and Bella rolled her eyes. "Your sad puppy dog face doesn't work on me," Bella said.

He sighed heavily, hanging his head in dejection. "It was worth a try."

"Come on," Bella said. "And if you're a good boy, we'll have time for dirty monkey sex later."

**~~AATG~~**

Dinner proved...awkward.

For one thing, Rose had invited Bradford. For another, Bella had invited Emmett and Mary Alice. Both Rose and Bella pretended that all of that had occurred by mistake, poor communication and busy schedules and all of that.

Edward knew that was all pure bullshit.

His sister and his woman were up to no good, and unless Edward read the signals wrong, the excrement was heading for the air ventilation device. And fast.

The only person who truly enjoyed herself was Alice. To everyone's surprise, she absolutely adored Bradford and made no secret of the fact. His daughter's obvious liking for Bradford did not set well with Emmett. Not one bit.

Even less appealing was the fact that Rose was seated quite comfortably at Bradford's side. He watched as they leaned in toward each other and spoke softly. Every little touch seemed to scream at intimacy and Emmett found his appetite waning.

"So Bradford," Carlisle was saying. "I feel like it's been forever since I saw you." He gave a pointed look at his daughter.

Edward wanted to bang his head against the table. He couldn't believe that Rose had dragged their father into the middle of their scheming.

"Uh yes, sir, it does," Brad agreed with a little smile. He looked at Rose. "I'm afraid I've been busy with work and...other things."

Emmett might have growled. Or maybe he choked. Or cleared his throat. In any case, all eyes went to him. Alice patted him on the back and told him to hold his arms up.

"I'm fine," he said between gritted teeth.

Alice gave him a curious look and then turned her big eyes on Bradford once more. Emmett stabbed at a piece of ham with his fork.

He chewed it slowly, his jaws bulging as he did so.

Edward looked at Bella, who seemed to be struggling not to laugh. Rose seemed as serene as ever, graciously helping their mother play hostess. His father had apparently decided that the less said the better. Edward seconded that motion.

"Do you two have any plans for Christmas Day?" Esme asked Emmett and Alice.

Alice bounced in her seat. "We're gonna open the presents that Santa brings us and then we're gonna watch Elf and eat pancakes!"

Esme smiled. "That sounds delightful," she said. She looked at Rose. "I'll be making cookies tomorrow evening if you'd like to come over and help, Alice."

"Can I, Dad? Can I? Please? I'll be good and I won't even eat too many cookies!" Alice's eyes were locked on her father's face.

"We'll see," he said.

Her face fell and she looked down at the table. Emmett sighed and lifted her chin so that he could look into her eyes. "As long as Mrs. Cullen says okay, I guess we can do that."

Alice grinned, and having won, was gracious in her triumph. She gave her father a hug and a pat on the cheek.

"Bradford and I will stop by too," Rose said.

"Oh," Esme said, putting her hand to her throat. "I thought you two had plans."

"The plans can be changed," Rose said. She looked at Bradford, who shifted in his seat. "Right?"

"Uh, sure," he said, tugging at his tie. "Whatever you say, Rosie."

"Whatever you say, Rosie," Emmett mocked under his breath.

"It's not nice to copy what people say, Daddy," Alice admonished him solemnly.

Bella couldn't contain herself any longer at that point and burst into laughter. Edward decided that he had fought the good fight and joined her. Only Emmett didn't seem amused in the slightest.

A cell phone rang and Bradford immediately patted his pocket and stood up. "Sorry," he said as he looked at the number. He glanced at Rose and showed her the display. For a moment, Rose looked a little disappointed, and then she kissed his cheek. "Go on, take the call," she said.

Brad quickly made his apologies and went outside, braving the cold and the wind.

"It's rude to answer your cell at the table," Emmett noted.

"It's rude to call other guests rude," Rosalie retorted.

Emmett just stared at her and then resumed chewing. After a moment, he opened his mouth to say something but at that moment, Bradford appeared. He motioned to Rose and the two of them had a whispered and urgent conversation in the doorway. When it was all over, Brad made his apologies and told them he had to leave. He thanked Carlisle and Esme for their hospitality and rushed out the door.

Rose sat down, looking a bit dejected. Bella gave her a questioning look. Rose just paused and the nodded. Bella sat back with an air of satisfaction. Edward assumed that their scheming and manipulations had borne fruit, at least on one side of the battle. He looked at Emmett and tried to guess how long the big lug would hold out.

It was obvious to him that Emmett McCarty was well on his way to being in love with Rose. Even if he wasn't quite there yet, the end result was inevitable. And Rose, bless her generous, impetuous heart, had decided that Emmett was the man for her.

God help him if he didn't step into line and soon.

At that moment, he caught Alice's eyes and he blinked. For a moment, an ancient kind of wisdom shone there, as if she knew secrets that no child could. Then she smiled slowly, her eyes going from her father to Rose. She looked at Edward.

And her grin grew wider.

Holy hell, even the little ones were sneaky.

**~~AATG~~**

"Rose, could you drop by later tonight since your date took off?" Emmett couldn't help but let some smugness into his tone.

Rose's frown told him quickly that might not be a wise idea.

"I mean, we'd appreciate it," he amended, brushing his hand over Alice's dark hair. "If you could."

"Why?" Rose challenged.

Alice was already asleep on his shoulder, so Emmett just decided to be honest – up to a point.

"We need...I'd like to...I have something I want to say," he finally muttered.

Rose considered it just long enough for him to think she was going to refuse. Then she nodded almost regally. "All right, but just for a while."

He smiled then, giving a sigh of relief. "Okay then, that's great. See you soon."

**~~AATG~~**

"What's going on between you and the douche?" Emmett asked.

Rose glared at him.

"I mean between you and Bradford," he said, making the name almost a curse word. He had tucked Alice into bed the moment he walked into the house and then he had waited for Rose to knock on his door.

Instead of saying hello, he had asked the question that had been on his mind since he heard about stupid Bradford.

"We're friends," Rose said at last.

"Friends?" he said skeptically. "You looked like more than friends."

"None of your business," she said shortly.

He seemed to wage a battle with himself for a moment. Finally, the wide shoulders straightened and she knew he had made up his mind – one way or the other. He shook his head and took a step closer. "What if I wanted to make it my business?" he asked softly.

"What?"

"You heard me," he said. "What if I wanted it to be my business? What would you have to say about that?"

Rose took a step back. She needed the room to breathe. To think. Surely, he couldn't mean what she wanted him to mean. Maybe he was looking out for her like a big brother. And maybe she'd have to kick him in the nuts if he said so.

Emmett kept advancing and Rose went on retreating until her back came to rest against the kitchen counter. Emmett's huge arms planted on either side of her, boxing her in, and filling her head with his subtle, unique scent. She breathed it in and closed her eyes.

"You're not ready for a relationship," she said.

"How do you know?" he asked, one finger coming up to brush against her cheek. She resisted the urge to nuzzle into that large, callused hand. God, his hands were so sexy. And those forearms? She wanted to wrap her hands around them and feel their strength. And his jaw...she wanted to lick it.

"Because you told Bella," Rose said breathlessly.

"Bella doesn't know everything," he said. "Besides, that was months ago."

"What's changed?" Rose asked as their eyes locked.

"Everything," he answered quietly. And his mouth descended on hers.

Holy shit, the man knew how to kiss. For such a big guy, he led into the kiss with surprising gentleness. His tongue swept across her lips, begging entry. When their tongues touched, they both groaned and his massive arms encircled her, making her feel delicate and cherished. He pulled her closer and closer, pressing their bodies together. She could feel the tautness of his muscular frame; she was exquisitely aware of the power in that big body so close to hers.

They kissed and kissed and it went on forever. Finally, she pulled away to gather a breath and she looked over his shoulder at a picture of Alice as a baby. In Michelle's arms.

And Rose remembered.

With a little sob of frustration, she pushed him away.

"You still love Michelle," she said, tears running down her cheeks.

"What?" he looked confused and aroused and Rose resisted the urge to drop the subject.

You think Michelle was perfect!" Rose cried, traitorous tears streaming down her cheek. "I can't be her! I don't _want_ to be her. I'm me! And I should be enough."

Emmett looked stunned for a moment. "That's what you think?"

Rose nodded, suddenly feeling unsure.

"Fuck," he muttered. Emmett sighed and rubbed at his face with his hands. "Michelle was a lot of things," he finally said. "But she wasn't perfect. Hell, I wouldn't have wanted her to be." He briefly closed his eyes and ran his hand over his jaw. "Look, I think maybe we need to have a little talk."

"You think?" Rose snapped.

Emmett motioned for her to sit down at the little kitchen table. "First, I never thought of Michelle as perfect."

"But you loved her," Rose interjected.

Emmett nodded. "I did. I loved her very, very much."

"Thanks, you're right, I feel so much better," Rose muttered. "You really have a way with women."

"Settle down, Rosie, and I'll share a few more facts with you," Emmett soothed.

"Like what?" Rose asked, looking down at the table.

His big, warm hands moved across the table to settle over hers. "It's true that I loved Michelle – and a part of me always will because I don't fall out of love very easily. When I give my heart, I don't take it back. I don't love lightly. But it's also true that I think maybe I'm ready to love someone else with the same intensity." He rubbed at his jaw. "I know I am, actually. I'm good with monogamy," he added and Rose's eyes flickered up to his. "I'm a relationship kind of guy – always was." He shrugged. "You threw me for a loop, Rosalie Cullen. From the moment I laid eyes on you I knew you were dangerous."

Rose wanted to deny the fluttering that set off in her chest but was unable to do so. "In what way?"

Strong fingers swept across her cheekbones. "When I met you, you made me feel things I thought I was done with – like lust and want and something softer that scared me even more."

She nuzzled into his hand, unable to help herself. "Go on."

"The fact that you were so good with Alice only made it worse, because I couldn't even use my daughter as an excuse," Emmet continued. "And that scared me, scared me like you wouldn't believe."

"I didn't want to scare you," Rose whispered.

"But you did," Emmett murmured. "I'm glad you did, but..." He gave a shaky laugh and shook his head. "But before we take this...this thing between us any farther, there are some things you need to know."

"I don't like the sound of that," Rose said.

"It's nothing bad, it's just I think you need to understand some things about Michelle and me and-"

"I don't want to pry," Rose interrupted. And she didn't want to know. Not really.

"It's not prying if I'm volunteering the information," Emmett replied easily. "But maybe if you know some details, you'll realize that I never thought of Michelle as perfect and I don't expect you to be either." He took a deep breath. "I'm not looking for another Michelle. I'm looking for a Rosalie. I want you, Rose. I don't want you to be anyone you aren't. I don't want to try and recreate something that's gone. I want to make something new...with you." He stopped. "But there are things you should probably know about us. Before...well, it never mattered because I wasn't looking for someone to..." He grimaced. "Not even Bella knows all of it. Just you, because I want you to see how much I trust you, Rose. And that's big, very big. You're important to me and I'm finally ready to admit it."

She gazed at him, watching as he gathered his courage before he spoke.

"You know how you tease me that Mary Alice is just like me?" he asked quietly.

Unsure where this was going, Rose nodded.

"I always get the biggest kick of that," Emmett said with a little smile. "First, because it's true." Rose laughed. "And second...well, second because I'm always amazed at much we're alike when the fact of the matter is..." He took a deep breath. "Alice isn't my biological daughter."


	18. Chapter 18: What the Cat Says Goes

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

**Chapter 18: What the Cat Says Goes**

Rose could only gape at him for a moment, stunned and incredulous.

He nodded, seeing the questions brewing in her eyes. He wiped his hands over his face again. He had never told anyone the story of how and Michelle had met, not the whole truth anyway. Even Bella had been given the standard answer that he and Michelle told everyone. No one needed to know about Alice. It wasn't their business. And it wasn't something Emmett had really ever wanted to share.

Until now.

"I met Michelle just about six months before Alice was born," Emmett said. "She was waitressing at a café I used to eat lunch at and we'd chat every day, At first it was real casual conversation, books and movies and stuff like that. But then we both started talking about bigger, more important things. Our parents, growing up...but not relationships. I was kind of at loose ends; I was never close with my family and got out of there the minute I graduated high school. I put myself through college and was starting to get good at web design. I have a knack for it. It makes sense to me so I was happy on the work front, but nothing else was coming together. I'd broken up with my girlfriend when I found out she was cheating and Michelle was..." He smiled slightly.

"Well, she was easy to talk to; she made me laugh, even when I was feeling miserable. We started hanging out after she got off work and we got even closer then. Nothing sexual, just...friends. I knew she was alone because she never talked about a guy. She didn't even look pregnant when I met her but one day, her belly just sort of popped and I just asked her straight out. She said yes she was having a baby, but never said word one about a father. And eventually I found out that she'd been dumped by her asshole boyfriend the day she told him she was pregnant. He left town and she had no idea where he was. So we were two losers, sort of helping each other make it through the tough times." He grimaced and leaned on the heel of his free hand, his other clutching at Rose's.

"Then one day she was crying and I found out it was because she got evicted and I invited her to live with me...temporarily of course." He smiled at the memory. "It wasn't love at first sight for either of us, but we got along well. We liked each other, you know? She was a genuinely good person and she made me laugh. I went to those childbirth classes with her and we just sort of started letting everyone assume the baby was mine." His smile grew wider. "And then Alice arrived and she was early and had a few health problems. Nothing too serious, but it was going to be kind of expensive. I used that to my advantage, I'll admit it. Because I was starting to feel something more for Michelle than compassion or just an urge to help. I wasn't in love with her, not yet, but I knew I could be. And at that point, I already knew I was in love with Mary Alice. That was a no brainer. It took about two seconds for Alice to wrap me around her little finger. I talked Michelle into putting my name on the birth certificate so I could cover her under my health insurance policy. I still don't know how or why she agreed to it, because really, she couldn't have known we'd end up together. But she did and then Alice finally came home with us and somewhere in those first hectic, terrifying weeks...we fell in love."

He looked at Rose. "And it was beautiful and wonderful, and I'll always be grateful that I had her for those few years, but it wasn't perfect. We fought and we bickered like every other couple on the planet. She'd call me pigheaded and I'll tell her that she had her head in the clouds. She'd leave her bra on the dresser because she knew it drove me nuts and I would drink the last of the milk because I wouldn't think about it. We'd fight over whose turn it was to take out the garbage or who was supposed to get up with the baby. But none of that mattered because at the core of things, we loved each other. Having Alice was the best experience of my life. I never knew who her sperm donor was, and it helped that Alice looked a little bit like me by some weird quirk of fate. We moved from the town we met in, and just started fresh. We were a family, and no matter how we started out, that was enough for us. We were happy. I was – I am – Alice's father in every way that matters. Biology doesn't mean shit when you get up every night and rock a little girl to sleep. Or worry over her fever even though the doctor tells you it's just teething. Alice is my daughter and she always will be. One day, I'll tell her the exact circumstances of her birth, but it would just confuse her right now. I've never told anyone. Ever. Until tonight. Until you."

"I almost wish you wouldn't have told me," Rose whispered.

"Why?" he asked uncertainly.

She smiled and caressed his cheek. "Because it makes you incredibly easier to love, and I'm not sure I can handle that."

"Rose," he murmured, and leaned his forehead against hers.

She closed her eyes and just savored the moment. "So...the accident..."

He took a deep shuddering breath and sat up, his jaw clenching for a moment. "Eventually, we decided to have another child." His face grew pained and taut. "She was just barely pregnant when they had the car accident," he said in a husky voice. "And suddenly, I had lost my future. I lost my wife, my baby... But in all of that darkness, there was one bright ray of life – my Alice."

"And she's perfect," Rose said.

Emmett pursed his lips and shook his head. "Nope, not by a long shot, but she's Alice and she's exactly who she ought to be."

"And so are you," Rose said gently.

"The thing is..." He paused. "I guess I figured that because it took a while for Michelle and me to fall in love that the way you made me feel couldn't be...real. It couldn't be lasting, because it hit me like a freight train the moment I saw you. Something that..._powerful_...couldn't be sustained. Love at first sight just doesn't happen. At least, that had been my experience. You see what I'm saying?" She nodded, understanding it in a strange way.

"But the thing is, Rose, that I know how good it feels to be with that one person in a million who just gets you. It's exciting and comforting and terrifying all at the same time. And I think...I think..." He shook his head. "I know I could have that with you. If you'll have me. If you'll put up with me and try to love me for the idiot I am."

"I think I can manage that," she whispered.

He leaned in and kissed her. "I wasn't looking for love again. Figured I'd had my shot at it, but damn..." He smiled slightly and shook his head. "You came along and made me wish I'd work up the nerve to take another shot at it." He kissed her again. "So that's what I'm doing now. I'm asking you to let me try. Let me love you like you deserved to be loved."

"Only if you let me return the favor," Rose whispered and Emmett closed his eyes in relief.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Oh God, Rose, thank you." His arms were tight and hard around her and Rose could only close her eyes and savor the feeling.

**~~AATG~~**

Edward opened the cat carrier and Sebastian stared at it for a moment as if contemplating his options. Edward sighed with exasperation and pointed to the carrier. Sebastian stared at Edward for a moment, as if trying to decide if he should humor the human or make him play chase. Sebastian gave a wide yawn and then ambled slowly, very slowly, into the carrier.

"This is ridiculous," Edward muttered. "I'm reduced to begging a cat."

_Meow_.

"Don't talk back," Edward scolded.

_Meow._

"Great, now I'm arguing with a cat."

_Meow. _

"Oh look, my two favorite men are having a spat," Bella teased as she walked back into the living room.

Edward grabbed Bella and kissed her hard. "This really is ridiculous, you know," he said when they pulled apart.

"What is?"

"This," he said, motioning to the cat carrier and her overnight bag. "All of this, every time we want to spend the night together."

Bella just gave him a puzzled look. "Well, I keep the essentials at your house," she reminded him. "I just wanted to restock my panties and socks drawer," she added with another soft kiss to his lips.

Edward stopped her when she went to move away. "Unh uh," he said. "I'm not done bitching."

Her lips twitched as she studied him. "You need to vent, huh?"

He nodded.

"Need to get it all out, do you?"

He nodded again.

Edward's mouth touched hers, soft and tentative, almost like a first kiss. "I don't want to be ridiculous anymore."

"Then don't pout so much," she advised with a snort of laughter.

He rolled his eyes and leaned back. "I'm serious."

Her expression grew more solemn. "Okay, I'm listening." She took a deep breath. "Do I need to sit down for this?"

He shook his head. "No, just keep an open mind."

"I'll try."

"I don't want to sleep apart from you ever again," he started. Then he swallowed hard, trying to work up the courage to say the words.

_Meow_.

"I want Sebastian to move in with me," he blurted. Then he groaned when she laughed in surprise. "That came out wrong."

"How did it sound in your head?"

"It sounded like..." He paused and smiled slowly. "It sounded like me telling you that I love you and I want us to live together, in the same house. My place or yours, or someplace new. I don't care. As long as there's room for you and me and Sebastian."

_Meow._

"You want to live together?" she asked, obviously taken aback.

"Yes, for now," he said. "But I want something else." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. "I want you to marry me. Not right away. We can take our time and plan whatever kind of wedding you want. City Hall or big church wedding, that doesn't matter as long as it's you and me. Maybe next year some time. Or whenever..." he trailed off uncertainly. Edward paused. "That is...if you say yes."

She could only blink at him.

"I know we've moved fast," he said. "But I don't care. We both know that there are no guarantees in life. We have today, but we don't know about tomorrow. And I don't want to waste a single day of being with you worrying about some arbitrary timetable that other people think we should follow. I love you. I'll always love you. I'm tired of being away from you. I want us to live together while we plan our wedding." He stopped and hunched his shoulders, shoving one hand in his pocket. "And if you're opposed to the idea of marriage in general then maybe you could just put up with me forever anyway."

Bella stared.

"I'm done," he said quietly. "Your turn."

Bella didn't speak. But she did jump him and wrap her arms and legs around him, covering his face with kisses.

_Meow._

_Meow. _

_Meow_.

"The cat and I say yes," Bella finally answered.

_Meow._

_**Author's Note: Only a few chapters left! Thank you all for reading. It's meant so much to me.**_


	19. Chapter 19: Decisions, Decisions

I don't own these characters. They are the sole property of Stephenie Meyer. I only borrow them. No humans are permanently harmed through my actions, though I do confess to harassing, annoying, torturing, and exasperating them – just because it's fun. I make no money from my little stories, sad day. I only play in the sandbox, I didn't build it.

_**Author's Note: My deepest apologies for the delay. My husband's job was eliminated in June, and to our great joy he found an amazing job a few weeks ago. Four hours away. After a lot of soul searching and consideration, I decided to stay here with our son who graduates in a year. My mother-in-law also lives with us, so I'm not sure how I ended up with the mother-in-law and not the husband around, LOL! Anyway, he'll come home as often as possible and I'll go up there when I can. It's been an adjustment and I've been sulking for a bit. On the up side, my daughter graduated from nursing school on Monday! So I hope to do better with updates and finish this story very soon. Thank you for your patience.**_

**Chapter 19: Decisions, Decisions**

Bella woke up to Edward kissing her breasts. "Oh," she moaned. "What a nice wake up call."

He chuckled against her skin and then licked a nipple. Edward reached down and took her left hand in his, his fingertips caressing the ring that he had placed there the night before. "I love you, Nurse Swan," he whispered.

"You'd better," she retorted. "Because you're stuck with me." Her right hand cradled his face. "I love you too, Mr. Cullen. So much…"

His expression went from playful to solemn in a moment. "We're going to have a good life, aren't we?" But she knew he wasn't asking a question. Not really. He was telling her something that he felt with cell of his being.

"We're going to have the best kind of life," she promised. "Because we'll treasure every moment."

"Every moment," he vowed. Their fingers intertwined and tightened as he gently thrust inside of her.

**~~AATG~~**

"I saw Daddy kissing Miss Rose," Alice announced as she and her father and Rose walked into the Cullen's house for their holiday baking session. She grinned widely. "And then he patted her butt...just like this," she demonstrated, giving her father's ass an affectionate little pat and squeeze.

Emmett jumped like someone had attached jumper cables to his butt and pressed his backside against the wall, glaring at Alice as he did so. Alice was not impressed and only smiled bigger.

Rose groaned and collapsed into a stool at the kitchen island. "Really, Al? You're throwing me under the bus like that?"

Edward snorted with laughter but tried to maintain his composure when his mother shot him an exasperated look and Bella gave him an elbow in the ribs.

Emmett just ducked his head and helped Alice take off her jacket. "You don't need to tell everything you see...or hear," he added in a low voice to his smiling daughter.

Alice shrugged and scampered over to the stepping stool by Esme. She was obviously unconcerned how her little announcement might have been taken by her audience. Esme carefully ignored the elephant in the room and began instructing Alice on the fine art of making Christmas cookies.

Rose leaned in and gave Emmett a kiss on the cheek. "We're busted, babe. Just go with it."

He grunted and hunkered down in his chair a bit more. Edward kept grinning like an idiot, but just shook his head when Rosalie asked him what was up with the smirking. He watched as his mother and sister helped Alice make cookies. Emmett continued to brood for a while, but Edward could tell that Bella was slowly pulling him from his funk. Every now and then, Rose would look up to catch Emmett's eye and they would smile at each other.

It was sweet.

It was also getting on Edward's nerves.

Because what no one had seemed to notice yet – and how could his mother of all people have missed it? – was that on Bella's left hand there sparkled a brand new ring. An engagement ring to be precise. _His_ ring. On Bella's hand. His fiancée's hand.

He tried not to look at it because he didn't want to draw attention to it. At the same time, he wanted to hire the Good Year Blimp to announce the news. But Bella had wanted to see how long it would take someone to notice. His intended bride had a wicked sense of humor, it seemed.

So here they were, hours and hours after he had placed the ring on her finger, and still waiting for someone – anyone – to notice the change in status that the piece of jewelry represented. Bella looked at him and gave him a little smile, her dark eyes alight with laughter.

She thought all of this was funny - hilarious, in fact. Edward was not amused. Well, not much anyway. He returned her smile with a philosophical sigh and resumed watching his mother's Christmas cookie routine.

By the time the first batch of cookies was in the oven, his mouth was watering in anticipation and he wasn't too upset anymore by their lack of observational skills. It was kind of fun to have a secret and to wait for the moment when it would be revealed. Who would be the first to notice? And what would everyone's reaction be? He predicted that his mother would cry. In fact, he was certain of he decided to enjoy the moment.

Alice was thrilled to be a part of the whole process and Rosalie seemed to enjoy teaching her. It was heart warming to see his sister's maternal side being displayed. He had always thought that she would make an exceptional mother. And no child of hers would run wild; it would sheer folly to even consider it. Edward knew that he could look forward to well behaved nieces and nephews.

The thought of children made him glance back at Bella. They had once discussed children in the abstract. They had both stated an ambiguous, vague liking for children. Perhaps even a desire for them. One day. Now that they had decided to marry, how far away would that 'one day' be for them? How many would they want to have? Would Bella want to work after they had kids? Would he need to consider moving to a higher paying job in the private sector? He would happily do so for his family. Bella had once talked about furthering her education and perhaps becoming a nurse practitioner. Would she still want to do so? Before or after they had children?

"Hey," Bella's voice dragged him away from his musings. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her close, burying his nose in her hair and inhaling her Bella/sugar cookie scent.

"Hey yourself," he murmured back. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You're beautiful."

Her lips quirked. "Well thank you," she said with a nod. "But what brought that on?"

"Just thinking," he replied.

"About what?"

He nodded toward Rosalie, her golden blond hair a striking contrast to Alice's dark curls, their heads pressed together as Rose demonstrated how to spread colored sugar on the dough. "Just watching my sister and Alice."

"They're cute together," Bella observed.

"Yeah," he said. "And I was thinking about us...and kids...one day."

"You were?" she sounded surprised and Edward wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. "Just random thoughts. You know how my mind wanders," Edward said, trying to dismiss the topic.

Bella laughed softly and kissed his cheek. "I love your dirty, wandering mind."

"I didn't say anything about dirty," he reminded her with a grin.

"But I know it's there," Bella teased. "It always is."

"I should probably apologize," he admitted quietly.

"Don't you dare," she whispered in his ear, reaching up to cradle his face in her hands. Then she licked his ear for good measure. "You have many wonderful qualities, Edward Cullen, and your absolutely filthy mind is just one of them."

He chuckled. "Good to know I'm appreciated."

"Hey!" Rose's voice interrupted them. "What the fu- What the _hell_ is that on your finger, Isabella Swan?"

Bella gave a small groan. "We're busted, Mr. Cullen."

"So we are, Nurse Swan," he agreed just before he turned to face his sister, a completely innocent expression on his face.

"To what might you be referring, Rosalie?" he asked.

Rose just jumped up and down, squealing like a little girl. Alice joined in just because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Esme started crying, while Emmett just looked confused by all the commotion. The noise brought Carlisle running. He took one look at his wife and daughter and then his eyes swung toward Edward, who appeared both embarrassed and smug at the same time.

"What did I miss now?" Carlisle said with exasperation.

Rose could only point at Bella and laugh; then she picked up Alice and began dancing around the kitchen. Alice was throwing her arms wide and enjoying every moment of it. Esme approached Bella and Edward and hugged them both close, giving kisses along the way.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked as she pulled away.

Bella shrugged. "We just kind of wanted to see how long it would take everyone to notice?"

Carlisle snorted, having caught sight of the ring on Bella's hand. "We'll have to remember to keep an eye on you, or we'll have three grandchildren before you bother to tell us!"

Bella and Edward looked at each other, eyes wide and swallowed hard. While he had been contemplating that very thing, it was a very different matter to hear the words coming from his father's mouth.

**~~AATG~~**

"Yes, Dad," Bella was saying when Edward walked back into the living room. "I love you too." Then she rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm aware that we haven't known each other for very long." Edward grimaced. "No, I'm not!" Bella rolled her eyes again. "Dad, I think I know how to prevent a pregnancy. I'm a nurse, remember?" Bella heaved a sigh and slumped on the couch. "Yes, I know. Knowledge doesn't always trump stupid. Yes. Yes. Of course. We'll see you soon. Give Sue and Seth my love."

She hung up the phone and looked at Edward. "So…how does Vegas sound?"

"Better and better with every passing moment," he admitted. He pulled her into his lap. "Seriously, I don't really care how we do this, as long as we're married at the end of it."

"Pretty easy to please, aren't you?" she teased.

He shrugged and nuzzled against her throat. "As long as I have you, yeah, I'm pretty easily satisfied."

"So tell me, Mr. Cullen, now that you've decided to keep me, have you made up your mind about kids?" She snorted when he shifted uneasily beneath her. "I saw that deer in the headlights look you gave when your dad mentioned grandchildren."

"Well…" he cleared his throat. "What are your thoughts on the matter?"

"My thoughts are…I don't want one," Bella replied matter-of-factly.

"Oh," he said, his expression downcast and surprised.

She laughed and kissed him – hard. "So gullible," she mocked. "What I meant is that I don't want to have just one. I hated being an only child, and now with Seth and Leah around, I realize even more what I missed. So, Mr. Cullen, I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like you to knock me up. More than once." She kissed the tip of his nose. "When the time is right, of course."

"Oh," he said again, but in a totally different tone. He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. "I think I can manage that."

"But maybe we should practice," she suggested solemnly.

"Perhaps we should," he replied just as seriously.

She gave an indignant squeal when he lowered her to the floor and then followed her. "Starting now," he said wickedly.


End file.
